Police investigate Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal for postgame interaction with fan
Bradley Beal is having an under-the-radar season during his 11th year with the Washington Wizards. However, he now has some serious attention focused on him based on the latest news regarding his off-court behavior.
Per David Purdum at ESPN, he says obtained police documents revealed that Beal is under a police investigation following an incident that transpired after a Wizards loss in Orlando on March 21st.
As he exited the floor, Beal walked back and reportedly struck a fan in the crowd after being heckled due to a bet that someone missed due to his play.
According to the police report, Beal and the Wizards were headed to the visitor’s tunnel in the Amway Center. That’s when an unidentified person yelled ‘you made me lose $1,300, you f—‘ to Beal. At that point, Beal turned around and swatted the hand of one of the person’s friends. The strike took the man’s hat off as Beal made contact with the man’s head.
Footage of the incident revealed that Beal said this was his job and that it is something he takes seriously. The men then apologized and said they did not have an intention of offending him.
However, the filed complaint from the affected party now states that ‘probable cause exists to charge (him) with simple battery’.
The NBA released a statement as spokesman Mike Bass said the league is ‘aware of the report’. He added they’re still ‘in the process of gathering more information’ at the moment. As for the Wizards or Beal, neither have commented on the matter as of now.
Beal is averaging 23.2 points, 5.4 assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game this season. He’s shooting a career-best 50.6% from the field while also continuing his marksmanship from three. Over 50 games, he’s knocking down more than 1.5 threes per game on a 36.5% clip.
As sports betting has become a more prevalent part of athletics, incidents like this have become far more frequent. Fans are no longer just fans as much as they become ‘investors’ in a sense too with gambling getting bigger and bigger. When it comes to the players like Beal, though, they have next to no interest in what type of money that bettors are putting down on their performance. Their sole focus when it comes to their numbers is ensuring a win one way or another.
We’ll have to wait and see how this develops as Beal and the Wizards close their season. It’s a bad situation either way but is a really tough look for the three-time All-Star and former All-NBA guard considering what it could lead to in the form of charges against him.