Bradley Beal responds: Stephen Curry is currently the NBA’s leading scorer with 31.9 points per game, as his recent feat included 49 points in just 29 minutes.
That prompted Curry’s teammate, Kent Bazemore, to not only praise his performance, but poke fun at Bradley Beal and his recent injury, saying “Then we got guys hurting hamstrings, trying to keep up.”
Beal, who has led the league in scoring for the majority of the season, was rightfully upset about Bazemore’s comments, as he took to Twitter and fired off a bunch of tweets directed to Bazemore while Bazemore and the Golden State Warriors took on the Utah Jazz on Monday night.
“You don’t know why I go out there and play and it damn sure ain’t for another man’s approval!!!” Beal wrote in one of his tweets. “You a straight LAME!!!”
Bazemore responded in his postgame presser about the tweets Beal directed towards him, as he said he didn’t mean anything “malicious” when making his initial comments about Beal’s hamstring injury.
“I guess you can’t joke anymore,” Bazemore said. “I don’t say things to ruffle feathers, but … if you want to know what my loyalty is, it’s to [Curry]. Anyone out there chasing him, it’s gonna be tough.”
Bazemore’s explanation wasn’t good enough for Beal, however, as the Washington Wizards superstar took to First Take to explain why he didn’t think those comments were funny at all.
“I didn’t like that. I didn’t like the last part of the comment,” Beal said. “The first half of it about what Steph was doing was — I’m with you, bro. Forty-nine in 29 minutes, I think everybody in here can agree that that’s remarkable and truly amazing, so nobody’s arguing that.
“But I didn’t mention you, my hamstrings have nothing to do with why I go out there and play the game, and for me to injure my hamstring and you kind of make a joke about it, I don’t take that too fondly, honestly, because I take pride in being somebody who — my first four years, I was always labeled as an injury-prone guy.
I was always labeled as somebody who couldn’t stay on the floor. So I take pride in my body, I take pride in being on the floor and being available for my team and giving my team the best chance to win. … Don’t make fun of something that’s not funny.”
Beal is completely justified to feel the way he feels about Bazemore’s comments, as injuries are never anything to joke about. Beal is also a standup guy on and off the court, so why would you want to go out of your way to hurt him? There is a way to show love to your teammate and appreciate their greatness without putting another person down.
Beal is also one of the league’s more underappreciated superstars. Just last season, he was left off the All-Star team despite averaging 30.5 points per game.
It’s very rare to see players average 30+ points in a season let alone seeing those players being left off the All-Star team.
Appreciate Beal’s greatness as a player and person, and don’t take his kindness for weakness.
