Bradley Beal was among eight players able to practice Wednesday for the Washington Wizards. The Wizards were practicing for the first time in more than a week due to their lengthy bout with coronavirus-related issues.
Six players remained in the NBA’s health and safety protocols and were ruled out for Friday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks. That didn’t include the injured Russell Westbrook (quad) and Thomas Bryant (ACL).
The Wizards had a league-minimum of eight available players. However, Beal, who is a union rep for Washington, said he and Westbrook would lobby to NBAPA executive director Michele Roberts to postpone Friday’s game due to a lack of practice time.
Beal added playing with just one practice was a “recipe for injury.”
Apparently, the league heard he and Westbrook’s plea, as the NBA postponed the Wizards-Bucks game.
The game’s postponement was due to “the number of available players for the Wizards, contact tracing for other players on their roster, and the length of time preceding the game during which the team was unable to practice,” the league stated in their announcement.
This marks Washington’s sixth straight game to be postponed. The Wizards haven’t played since Jan. 11. The day after the game, Washington shut down their practice facility. Then, placed Rui Hachimura and Moe Wagner in the coronavirus protocol.
The Wizards have had a total of seven players test positive for COVID-19. Fortunately, a staff member who initially tested positive for the virus had a false positive.
