The Raptors may have handed the Wizards a heart-breaking, double-overtime 140-138 loss Sunday afternoon, but Bradley Beal was arguably the best player on the court for either team.
Beal stuffed the stat sheet with 43 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists against Toronto, doing it all for the John Wall-less Wizards. Since Wall was officially ruled out for the season, Beal has gone into superstar mode, averaging nearly 30 points per contest in eight games.
In fact, Sunday was Beal's second 40-10-15 triple-double this season, as he recorded 40 points, 11 rebounds and 15 assists in a Dec. 22 win over the Phoenix Suns. According to ESPN, he is just the second player in NBA history with two such triple-doubles in one season, joining Oscar Robertson on the two-man list.
Bradley Beal joins Oscar Robertson (1961-62) as the only players in NBA history with multiple 40-10-15 games in a season.Beal also had 40-11-15 in a 3OT game vs the Suns on Dec. 22. pic.twitter.com/91zbqARSbA
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 13, 2019Additionally, Beal joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only players ever to drop at least 40 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in their first two career triple-doubles.
Bradley Beal joins Wilt Chamberlain as the only 2 players in NBA history to reach 40pts/10rebs/10 asts in their first 2 triple-doubles #Wizards #DCFamily per @EliasSports
— David Devall (@McNubian) January 14, 2019However, the craziest part of all this is: Beal may not be an All-Star this season! Per the latest fan voting results, Beal sits in 10th place among Eastern Conference guards, behind the likes of Zach LaVine, Jeremy Lin and the injured Goran Dragic.
The second returns of #NBAAllStar Voting 2019 presented by @Google!Vote on https://t.co/R6fBO5LSAS, the NBA App or by searching for your favorite player or team on Google.Vote now! https://t.co/7WGNCNxnJB pic.twitter.com/akz3wREzFM
— 2019 NBA All-Star (@NBAAllStar) January 10, 2019Fan voting accounts for the 50-percent of the vote to determine the 10 All-Star starters — two backcourt players and three frontcourt players from each conference — with the players and media getting 25 percent of the vote each.
Coaches select the seven reserves for each roster, the process which gave Beal his first All-Star Game appearance last season. He'll have to hope history repeats itself this year, but with so many talented guards in the East, there's some uncertainty Beal gets a spot.
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