Bradley Beal won’t play in National Basketball Association restart because of shoulder injury

Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal drives around New York Knicks forward RJ Barrett during the first half of an National Basketball Association preseason game in New York on October 11, 2019.

Because Beal is missing the restart due to injury, he will be paid for the regular season and Washington will not be able to sign a replacement player.

Beal's status had remained uncertain over the past few weeks.

Forward Davis Bertans, the team's best three-point shooter, opted out last month ahead of an offseason in which he will be a prized free agent.

Many believe the news puts the final nail in the coffin for Washington's chances at a playoff run. The team ruled out Wall traveling to Orlando at the start of team workouts.

Beal is one of the key players for the Eastern Conference franchise, as this season he averaged 30.5 points and 6.1 assists per game. In February, he became only the sixth player in National Basketball Association history with back-to-back 50-point games, the first since the late Kobe Bryant in 2007.

The Wizards say Beal had been dealing with a nagging right rotator cuff injury all season. and it only got worse during the hiatus. The decision to hold him out of play at Walt Disney World was made in full consultation with chief of athletic care and performance Daniel Medina, orthopedist Dr. Wiemi Douoguih, Beal and his representatives. The Wizards are now ninth in the East, five-and-a-half games behind Orlando for the eighth seed, but due to the new restart rules, they'd only have to get within two games of eighth to force a play-in series.

"This was a hard decision and one that I did not take lightly as the leader of this team", Beal said as part of a statement released Tuesday by the Wizards.