Beal and Gafford hurt in Wizards' loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Wizards not only lost to the Bucks on Tuesday night, they saw two key players exit with injuries. Bradley Beal went down in the second quarter with left hamstring soreness and Daniel Gafford departed in the fourth quarter with a right elbow issue.
Beal had just sat out the previous three games due to his left hamstring. It is unclear how he re-aggravated the injury. Gafford hurt himself on a string of collisions with Giannis Antetokounmpo on the defensive end.
Beal has missed 15 of the Wizards’ 39 games, while Gafford is the only player on the team yet to miss any this season. Beal has been dealing with an unfortunate injury saga dating back to last season when he missed 42 games and had year-ending surgery on his left wrist.
This season, Beal missed time due to health and safety protocols, then one game with a quad contusion, then six games with a right hamstring injury and then the previous three with his left hamstring issue. Beal has been good when healthy this season, averaging 22.9 points and 5.2 assists while shooting a career-high 52.5% from the field.
Both players helped ignite the Wizards’ recent five-game winning streak and Gafford was there for the entirety of it. He has formed an impactful duo with Kristaps Porzingis as the team’s starting big men.
One positive for Beal and Gafford is the Wizards have two days off before their next game, on Friday at the Thunder. If either injury has a day-to-day timetable, the Wizards will have extra time to rest in between games.
