The news that Bradley Beal will be traded from the Washington Wizards is big for La Crosse.
Beal’s departure to the Phoenix Suns opens a big minutes hole at shooting guard for La Crosse native Johnny Davis.
Davis had a rough start to his NBA career last season but did flash signs he could make an impact during the final week of his rookie year.
The 21-year-old played just 13 of Washington’s first 67 games, averaging 1.2 points on 33% shooting in 4.7 minutes. He never saw more than 8 minutes, 30 seconds of action in a game and spent most of the season in the G-League.
But, the Wizards shut Beal down and put Davis in the starting lineup over the last five games, where he averaged 17.0 points on 39.5-percent shooting over 36 minutes a game. During that span, he also averaged an impressive 6.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.4 steals, .8 blocks and 1.8 turnovers.
At one point Davis had back-to-back 20-point games, including against the Milwaukee Bucks.
That 17.0-a-game point total tripled what he was doing in the 10 games Washington used to ramp his minutes up, while Beal was still playing. Before starting those last five, Davis was playing 18.1 minutes, but averaging just 6.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and barely an assist.
In the trade, the Wizards would get back Chris Paul, Landry Shamet and a bunch of second-round picks and pick swaps. Paul will likely be traded — rumor is to the LA Clippers.
Shamet, however, who is only 26, and could be a problem for Davis. Though he’s been a journeyman already, playing for what will be his fifth team in six years, Shamet has shown flashes of success.
But, if Davis can’t beat out Shamet for minutes on a Wizards team that’s in rebuilding mode, the 2022 No. 10 overall pick out of Wisconsin might not be cut out for the NBA.
Davis led Central High School to a 2018-19 state title his junior year, and was named the Wisconsin high school basketball player of the year his senior year. But, he didn’t get a chance to repeat a state title, because of COVID-19 shutting down sports in 2020. He went on to play two season with the Wisconsin Badgers, coming out of seemingly nowhere his sophomore season to be an NCAA player of the year candidate, before declaring for the NBA, where the Wizards took him in the lottery, ninth overall.