SAN FRANCISCO — Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal called out Kent Bazemore on Twitter Monday night after the Golden State Warriors swingman appeared to take a shot at Beal while weighing in on Stephen Curry‘s place atop the NBA scoring race.
During Monday’s shootaround, Bazemore, a close friend of Curry’s, praised his teammate’s ability to remain humble no matter how many accolades come his way.
“Forty-nine points in 29 minutes, though, that’s unreal,” Bazemore said, referring to Curry’s output in a win over the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night. “Then we got guys hurting hamstrings, trying to keep up. So, ya’ll gotta do some research on that.”
Curry is averaging a league-leading 31.9 points per game, with Beal close behind at 31.4 PPG. On the same night Curry scored 49, Beal finished with 50 points in Washington’s overtime win at the Indiana Pacers hours earlier. Beal sat out the end of regulation and overtime, however, after straining his hamstring in the second half.
Beal, who missed Monday’s game and will also be out Wednesday because of the hamstring injury, took exception to Bazemore’s apparent dig and voiced his frustration in a series of tweets.
“You don’t know why I go out there and play and it damn sure ain’t for another man’s approval!!!” Beal wrote in a tweet directed at Bazemore. “You a straight LAME!!!”
He continued, “it’s funny you say that because ya mans admittedly checked my numbers before the game, but IM CHASING!!!”
Beal concluded his Twitter thread with a GIF of a clown.
@24Bazemore 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/deRpNP4xcK
— Bradley Beal (@RealDealBeal23) May 11, 2021
While Beal was taking aim at Bazemore, the Warriors guard was in the midst of one of his best games of the season. Bazemore finished with 19 points in 34 minutes as Golden State beat the visiting Utah Jazz 119-116.
Bazemore downplayed the situation with Beal when asked about it following Monday’s victory.
“I guess you can’t joke anymore,” Bazemore said, adding, “I don’t say things to ruffle feathers, but … if you want to know what my loyalty is, it’s to [Curry]. Anyone out there chasing him, it’s gonna be tough.”
Asked if he would reach out to Beal to describe what he meant by the remark, Bazemore replied, “There’s nothing really to explain; I was laughing, jokingly, half-heartedly said it.” He went on to say that there was “nothing malicious about that comment.”
“It was 11:30 in the morning, 12 o’clock, I was off my Bulletproof Coffee feeling good, enjoying seeing you guys’ faces, and that’s kind of what it was,” Bazemore explained. “I don’t know, man. I don’t think I would have reacted that way. But to each their own; he’s a great player, played against him for a long time, he’s been getting better every year, so [I wish him] a speedy recovery. I hope that helps.”
Bazemore said he didn’t check his phone all day until after Monday’s contest, at which point it was “blowing up.”
His plans for the rest of the night did not appear to include Beal or Twitter.
“I’m gonna go home, love up my wife, watch some ‘Peaky Blinders’ and go to bed,” Bazemore said. “I got work to do tomorrow.”
