Washington Wizards: Bradley Beal Returns To Practice, Set To Play Wednesday?

On Monday Bradley Beal practiced fully with the Washington Wizards for the first time since fracturing his left wrist in a preseason game on Oct. 10.

Afterwards he spoke with the media and discussed being a bit winded, but mostly pain-free.  Beal also joked about how he’s responsible for the team’s 7-2 start by sitting out, whereas last year Washington began the season 2-7 with him in the lineup.

Additionally Beal mentioned that he badly wants to play when the Wizards take on the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday:

In his own media session, Washington coach Randy Wittman had the following to say about Beal’s progress (via J. Michael of CSN):

"He’s going to have to get used to catching the ball and having confidence in his wrist. We’ll look at that in the morning, make sure there’s no soreness and judge it from there with another day’s practice tomorrow. … I don’t want to get into speculating right now. This is his first practice and we don’t know what 24 hours is going to bring here."

On Tuesday Beal went through his second consecutive full day of practice.

This time Whitman was asked if Beal might be able to play on Wednesday when the Dallas Mavericks come to town.  The coach’s response seems to imply that it’s a definite possibility.  From Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post, Whitman said:

"He looked good again today so we’ll again evaluate him tomorrow. Get him in here early at shoot-around and get him another workout after shoot-around. That’s how we’re going to have to progress with him, see where his body is and so far no pain in his wrist so that’s a good thing. Now we just have to kind off see where he is from a conditioning standpoint as we move forward each day. … I can’t tell you yes [he will play Wednesday] today and then tomorrow he’s sore and you’re going to say I lied to you. We got to see how he feels tomorrow, get him a good workout in after shoot-around, and see how that goes."

It sounds like Beal is ready to go barring any setbacks Wednesday morning.  CSN’s Michael agrees:

Like Whittman stated, if you’re an NBA head coach it’s a lot easier to tell the media you’re “not sure” in this situation.  But, if he didn’t think Beal was going to play against Dallas Whittman probably would have said as much.

Wizards fans can most likely expect to see Beal make his season debut on Wednesday.  However, how effective he’ll be in his first game back after just three days of practice is a different matter.

UPDATE:

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