Sorry, Cooper Flagg fans and all Bradley Beal haters. But the wild story about the two hoopers playing one-on-one is false, after all.

The current Phoenix Suns guard, formerly of the Washington Wizards, already called cap via an Instagram comment. Now, the 16-year-old Flagg put the rumor to bed.

The rumor was that Flagg bested Beal in a one-on-one game during Jayson Tatum’s Elite basketball camp last month in St. Louis. Beal took offense to Flagg’s trash-talking and “cussed out” the high school hooper, according to former NBA player Brian Scalabrine.

The story seemed believable. Scalabrine is known for his time with the Boston Celtics. Tatum plays for the Celtics. Plus, Scalabrine has previously worked with Flagg, a Maine native.
But not only did Beal shoot down the rumor, Flagg said the one-on-one never happened.

“That one was fake though,” Flagg said, per BR Hoops. “Me and Bradley Beal never played one-on-one. I got no beef with Brad.”

Bradley Beal is entering his 12th season in the NBA, his first with the Suns after getting traded by the Wizards. Meanwhile, Cooper Flagg is the No. 2 player in the nation for the class of 2025. Flagg’s on the trajectory to someday cross paths with Beal on an NBA court.

The rumor had legs, and was easy for some to believe it was tru. Flagg is one of the most hyped high school recruits. Flagg could’ve caught Beal slipping. However, according to both, the incident never happened.

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Bradley Beal is now a member of the Phoenix Suns. Traded to Phoenix after 11 seasons with the Washington Wizards, Beal is not only will have a new team, but he’ll have a new role.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Beal expects to be the Suns’ starting point guard entering training camp. Beal’s friend, and St. Louis area native, Jordan Goodwin, will serve as the backup point guard.

Goodwin was part of the trade that Beal to Phoenix for Chris Paul, the Suns’ primary point guard for the past three seasons.

The opportunity for Beal and Goodwin got created on Sunday after the Suns traded Cameron Payne to the San Antonio Spurs in a three-team deal that included the Orlando Magic.

Beal has primarily been a shooting guard throughout his career. He played his first seven seasons alongside John Wall. At his peak, Wall was one of the better point guards in the league.

Beal played one season next to Russell Westbrook, a former NBA MVP. Last season, Beal was part of a system that allowed him to be a ball handler. Monte Morris conceded some of the ball-handling duties.

Next season may look the same for Beal. Charania notes the Suns’ rotation will consist of multiple ball handlers able to initiate the offense. Expect Kevin Durant and Devin Booker to have opportunities to lead the offense. Recently pick up Eric Gordon also may factor in the rotation at point guard.

Booker stepped in as the primary ball-handler when Paul was out of the lineup. Booker averaged a career-high 6.8 assists in 2018-19. Last season he averaged 5.5 dimes.

Bradley Beal has increased his assists in the last four seasons. He averaged 5.5 assists during the 2018-19 season while Wall’s string of injuries started. The following year, Beal had 6.1 assists per game as Wall sat out the entire season with an Achilles tear.

The addition of Westbrook in 2020-21 dropped Beal to 4.4 dimes per game. Beal averaged a career-high 6.6 assists in 2021-22. Spencer Dinwiddie got brought in on a three-year contract that offseason. But a struggle with team chemistry resulted in Dinwiddie getting traded in the first year of the deal.

Last season, Beal averaged 5.4 assists — in the same ballpark as Booker. Beal’s handles have not always been up to par during his time in Washington, particularly in late-game situations that cost the Wizards’ games. So, while he may have the ball in his hand a bit more, clutch moments may come down to who the shot is designed for between Beal, Durant, and Booker.

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The agent of Bradley Beal has shut down trade rumors involving the Washington Wizards star guard. Mark Bartelstein told Adam Zagoria of Forbes “there are no Beal sweepstakes” despite the recent speculation of the Brooklyn Nets being interested in Beal.

“There are no Beal Sweepstakes and that’s why he re-signed with the Wizards. Brad re-signed with the Wizards because he wanted to stay in Washington and the Wizards wanted to keep him there.”

Mark Bartelstein / Adam Zagoria of Forbes

Thursday, Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News reported the Nets have internally discussed ways to acquire Beal.

Brooklyn has rumored to looking for a third star to pair with all-stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. However, Bartelstein says it will not include his client, Beal.

Beal signed a two-year extension worth nearly $72 million in October. The 26-year old made the decision to extend with the Wizards because he is committed to the organization.

While Beal and his agent have repeatedly spoke of their commitment to the Wizards, the team’s recent misfortunes have welcomed continued speculation about Beal being traded. The Wizards stumbled in 2019-20 season to a 24-40 record before the NBA suspended the season due to the coronavirus pandemic. That’s despite Beal being second in the league in scoring with 30.5 points per game.

Still, the Wizards have reasons to believe their fortunes will turn around with a team built around Beal. Five-time All-Star John Wall is expected to return to the court next season after rehabbing a torn Achilles he suffered in January 2019.

Washington are expected to have a lottery draft pick in this year’s draft. Grouped with last year’s first-round pick Rui Hachimura, there are plenty of building blocks and reasons Beal would want to stay with the Wizards and the Wizards would have every intention of holding on to Beal.

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On a day the basketball world memorialized Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi, Bradley Beal may have had one of the more fitting ways to honor the late Los Angeles Lakers legend.

Beal scored a career-high 55 points against the Milwaukee Bucks at Capital One Arena. His huge game occurred a night after he dropped a previous career-high 53 points against the Chicago Bulls in which he moved into second-place on the Wizards’ all-time scoring list. By doing so, Beal became the first player to score 50 points on back-to-back nights since Bryant did so on March 22-23, 2007.

Michael Jordan, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain and Bernard King also scored 50-plus points on consecutive nights.

Beal also joined Chamberlain and James Harden as the only NBA players to score 53 points or more in back-to-back games.

Against Milwaukee, Beal shot 19-of-33 from the field. He made 8-of-13 three-pointers.

The Bucks, who currently hold the best record in the NBA, had no answers for Beal for much of the 41 minutes he logged in.

Unfortunately for Beal, much like Sunday evening, his efforts did not result in a WIzards’ win. The Bucks went on to edge the Wizards 137-134 in overtime.

Still, it’s an insane clip by Beal. He was the highest-scoring All-Star Game snub in NBA history. And missing out in a trip to Chicago two weekends ago has led to this two-game tear by him.

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After not being voted in as a starter, Bradley Beal lay his All-Star Game chances in the hands of the Eastern Conference coaches as a reserve. Surprisingly, those coaches opted not to name the Washington Wizards guard as one of the seven reserves for February’s NBA All-Star Game.

This is despite the fact Beal being sixth in the NBA in scoring with 28.7 points per game.

His agent, Mark Bartelstein, voiced his displeasure with the coaches choice of not voting for Beal. He went as far as saying coaches are holding Beal re-signing with the Wizards and not be a “bandwagon jumper” by requesting a trade to a contending team (h/t Candace Buckner/ Washington Post).

“I think the coaches sent a horrible message,” Bartlestein said his statement. “I think the Eastern Conference coaches have become robotic in thinking they just have to reward players that are on the winningest teams. The idea of the all-star game is to reward the very best players and Brad made a decision this summer to be loyal to a franchise, to be patient with a franchise and to go through the rebuilding.

“He could’ve made the choice to be a bandwagon jumper and just go on and join a higher-level team and he would’ve been guaranteed in the all-star game,” Bartlestein continued. “But, he didn’t want to do that. He wanted to be loyal to his organization and the coaches in the NBA are holding it against Brad that he was loyal to his organization.”

Unless Beal is named as an injury replacement, he will become the first player in 41 years to average 28 points or more per game and not make an all-star team, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

The Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young is the only Eastern Conference guard to average more points than Beal this season. And Young was voted as a starter.

Beal, on the other hand finished second among East guards in the players’ portion of the all-star voting behind Young. However, with the fan and media voting Beal finished a eighth among East guards in the starters vote.

“There’s a reason why the platers voted him No. 2,” Bartlestein continued in his statement. “The players know and these coaches — if they’re being honest, there’s nobody in the Eastern Conference, other than Giannis, that they game plan for harder than they game plan for Brad.

“That’s the reality of it. They game plan so hard to try and take him away. The Wizards are in a rebuilding situation and this wasn’t going to be a year where they were going to be a playoff team, and everyone knew it. Yet, he has gone and played his heart out every single night to try to make them as competitive as they can be and coaches have held it against him that he decided to stay the course with the team instead of jumping ship and joining someone’s bandwagon and I think that’s a terrible message.”

Following a 121-107 win over the Charlotte Hornets Thursday, Beal called the all-star snub “disrespectful” in a post game interview with NBC Sports Washington’s Chris Miller.

Beal led the Wizards with 34 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in the win.

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Bradley Beal had an array of emotions Thursday after learning he was left out of the NBA All-Star Game. The Washington Wizards guard then took his frustration out on the Charlotte Hornets.

In route to scoring a game-high 34 points while dropping nine assists and grabbing nine rebounds, Beal took time to chirp with the Hornets players.

A fourth quarter sequence laminated Beal’s emotions.

First, while at the line shooting a pair of free throws, Beal appears to tell Malik Monk “You can’t guard me.”

Beal sank the pair of free throws to give him 31 points on the night.

After a Terry Rozier missed three pointer, Beal grabbed the rebound and brought the ball up, draining a pull-up three over Miles Bridges before turning to Bridges and letting him know.

That earned Beal his seventh technical of the season.

No fret, the Wizards were in command to a 121-107 win. But, it was clear, Beal had a chip on his shoulder when he touched the floor Thursday night. He was clearly not happy about being snubbed from next month’s All-Star Game, and he took it out on the Hornets all game.

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Bradley Beal not being named to the NBA All-Star Game is disrespectful, and that’s just how the Washington Wizards guard felt about the snub.

After scoring 34 points while adding nine assists and nine rebounds in a 121-107 win over the Charlotte Hornets, Beal responded to being left out of this year’s All-Star Game.

“I’m a little pissed off about,” Beal told NBC Sports Washington’s Chris Miller. He added “It’s disrespectful. But the real one’s know.”

Beal may have referencing to his supporters and also his peers. Despite not being a favorite in the fan and media voting, Beal finished second among Eastern Conference guards in the players’ vote.

Beal appeared emotional talking about being left off with Miller. He later left Capital One Arena without talking to the media.

Unless he is named as an injury replacement, Beal will become the first player to not make an All-Star team while averaging 28 points per game or more in 41 years, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

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Bradley Beal scored a team-high 24 points in the first half. However, his Washington Wizards allowed a franchise-record 88 points in the first half to the mighty Milwaukee Bucks.

Down 88-63, the Wizards were in dire need of some aggression. They received it from Beal, however, he may have given too much aggression.

The Wizards’ guard opened the second half with a monster poster dunk on Bucks center Brook Lopez. He then proceeded to let Lopez know about it by flexing on him, leading to a technical foul for taunting.

While it’s easy to laugh off a player, even of Beal’s stature, being T’d for taunting down 23 points, it may have been the spark the Wizards needed.

Washington went on to outscore Milwaukee 41-29 in the third quarter to cut their deficit to 13 points at the score of 117-103. Beal scored 14 of his 38 points (through three quarters) in the third.

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Bradley Beal is withdrawing from Team USA consideration for the FIBA World Cup, as the Washington Wizards guard is expecting the birth of his second child, his agent Mark Bartelstein told ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.

Beal joins Anthony Davis, James Harden, Eric Gordon and CJ McCollum as players to withdraw from the team in the past two weeks.

Team USA’s camp will be Aug. 5 through Aug. 9 in Las Vegas.

Beal is considered one of the best shooting guards in the league, just missing out from an All-NBA nod this past season.

Bradley Beal has been USA basketball since he was in high school, but despite wanting to play for the team will not suit up for the team that is slated to compete in the FIBA World Cup from Sept. 1 through Sept. 15 in China.

Team USA will announce the final 12-man roster on Aug. 17.

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The Washington Wizards have been adamant about keeping Bradley Beal and building around him. On July 26, the Wizards can offer Beal a three-year extension worth up to $111 million, however, an extension is “not viewed as a done deal,” according to Candace Buckner of the Washington Post.

“The team has indicated it plans to give Beal the offer, and both the player’s camp and the franchise have remained in contact throughout the summer. Around the league, however, the extension is not viewed as a done deal, and there is a growing belief that Beal will not remain in Washington for his entire career.”

Beal, 26, has two years and $55.8 million remaining on his current deal. After missing out of an All-NBA nod, Beal missed out on a chance at a super max extension.

He still has an opportunity next season. However, the landscape of the Wizards has changed.

With John Wall suffering a torn Achilles, the Wizards have hit the reset button. Since February, the Wizards have traded Otto Porter Jr. for Bobby Portis and Jabari Parker. They have allowed both Portis and Parker to walk in free agency.

Tomas Satoransky, Trevor Ariza, and Jeff Green also signed elsewhere in free agency, as the Wizards cut down payroll to avoid the luxury tax.

Signing an Isaiah Thomas, who is looking to rejuvenate his fallen career, as well acquiring CJ Miles, Moe Wagner, and Davis Bertans in trades may be considered a step back from the previous core. And while young drafted players, Rui Hachimara, Troy Brown Jr., and Admiral Schofield are enticing, that may not be enough to convince Beal to want to stay.

Meanwhile, Miami, New Orleans, and the Los Angeles Clippers each have reportedly inquired about Beal this summer, however, unsuccessfully.

Wizards’ interim president of basketball operations Tommy Sheppard said trading Beal has “never crossed our mind. Bradley is somebody we’re building around.”

That may all change if Beal rejects any extension offer. Beal has been non-committal on record about staying with Washington.

“I’d be naive to say I wouldn’t be (interested in extension talks),” Beal told The Washington Post last month. “Washington is where I’ve been the last seven years, going on eight. It would be great to play in one place forever. But at the same time, you want to win and make sure you’re in a position to do so. I’m definitely going to evaluate who we hire as the GM and who we pick up on the team. All that plays a factor.”

This NBA off-season has been highlighted with numerous superstar players changing teams via trade such as Russell Westbrook to Houston, Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers, and Paul George to the Clippers. If Bradley Beal rejects an extension offer, he may be back in the limelight of the trade market.

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