Washington Wizards' Bradley Beal Loses Tooth in Loss to Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors ruined what should have been a great night for Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal. Not only did his team lose 135-126 in a game he became only the second Wizard to score 15000 points, Beal appeared to have lost or chipped a tooth during the proceedings.

Looks like Bradley Beal chipped or lost his tooth during tonight's game. pic.twitter.com/bc9gweGoTT
— Chase Hughes (@ChaseHughesNBCS) February 14, 2023

Despite the bad luck, Beal played a solid game. He hit 13 of his 23 field goal attempts for 33 points while adding three rebounds and four assists. For the season, he's averaging a respectable 22.8 points per game at a career-best .615 true shooting percentage over his 38 appearances. He may not be the dominant, reliable scorer he was in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons when he averaged 30.9 points per game over 117 appearances, but he remains a valuable offensive piece when available.

With last night's loss, the Wizards fall to 26-30 and 10th in the Eastern Conference standings. Given the struggles of the teams behind them, the Wizards have a decent chance of making the play-in tournament, but they're unlikely to go far in the postseason. Despite solid play from Beal and career years from Kyle Kuzma (21.3 ppg, .547 TS%) and Kristaps Porzingis (22.9 ppg, .620 TS%), the Wizards simply don't have the talent to contend this year.

The Wizards travel to Portland to face the Trail Blazers tonight in the second game of a back-to-back.