The NBA's All Star reserves were revealed on Thursday night and as you can tell from the headline, Washington Wizards' shooting guard Bradley Beal didn't make the cut. The two-time All Star was admittedly pissed off after he had been snubbed despite the fact that he's averaging a career-high 28.7 points to go along with 6.4. assists (also a career-high) and 4.5 rebounds per game.
Following Thursday night's victory over the Charlotte Hornets, Beal said he felt disrespected by the coaches, but "was kind of expecting it."
Says Beal (via NBC Sports Washington):
"I'm a little pissed off about it, but I know how I am. I was kind of expecting it, honestly. It’s disrespectful, but the real ones know. I’ll just keep competing. I’m going to try to get my team in the playoffs for sure.”
Beal's fiance, Kamiah Adams, shared her frustrations with the voting process during the Wizards postgame show, "It's politics and it's a joke. The NBA is becoming laughable in my honest opinion."
“It’s a popularity contest. It’s about who has the most followers on Instagram, who has the most likes, and it’s a joke to me because my thing is you can’t name five people that were selected for reserves on either the East or the West who are outplaying Bradley right now,” said Adams.
When asked specifically about Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young, who was voted a starter, Adams said, “It’s a joke to me. Not taking away from his game… He’s playing cherry-picking basketball.”
Beal's agent, Mark Bartelstein, also vented about the Eastern Conference coaches, saying, “I think they’ve sent a horrible message.”
According to Candace Bucker, Bartelstein added, "There's a reason why the players voted him No. 2. The players 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."