Beal not worried about winning scoring title, beating Curry originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
After he scored 31 points against the Kings and Stephen Curry dropped 42 against the Thunder on Wednesday night, Bradley Beal as of Thursday morning holds a lead of just 0.3 points in the race for the 2020-21 scoring title. Beal is averaging 31.0 points per game, while Curry is now averaging 30.7 as he continues to close the gap with a second-half surge.
Beal appears to be in for a serious challenge as he guns for what would be the first scoring title in Wizards/Bullets franchise history. But just because they are now neck-and-neck, don't expect Beal to start stressing out about it.
"I could give a damn whether I win it or not," Beal said, adding that Curry is "playing lights out." The Warriors superstar is averaging 39.9 points over his last eight games since returning from an injury absence.
But while Beal said he didn't really care about the scoring title, he also acknowledged what should be fairly obvious, that he would rather get it than not get it. After all, it is a prestigious accolade with only one player winning it each year.
Beal has been an All-Star three times and has a good chance of making All-NBA this year. But a scoring title is on a completely different level than those. Just consider the fact every single player who has won a scoring title is either in the Hall of Fame or certain to be someday. That streak goes all the way back to the 1940s.
"Do I want to, yeah?" Beal asked rhetorically. He went on to say:
"If I lead the league in scoring by the end of the year, that’s magnificent. It’s definitely another achievement I’ll be proud of, but it won’t lose sleep if I don’t," Beal said.
The Wizards have 18 games left on their schedule and Beal has to appear in at least five of them to qualify with 50 total games played. To qualify for statistical leaderboards, players have to appear in at least 70 percent of their team's games.
Those final 18 games, though, will have Beal's focus for a different reason. After beating the Kings on Wednesday, the Wizards are just one game back from the final spot in the play-in tournament.
"My biggest thing is just trying to help us get into the playoffs as best I can," he said. "Try to finish the year injury-free and hopefully continue to play well."W
