Shooting guard Bradley Beal missed the Washington Wizards’ game at Toronto on Wednesday because of a mild stress reaction in his lower right fibula.
Beal hurt his big toe during a Feb. 4 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. He started the game against the Charlotte Hornets the following night, but left late in the first quarter when the pain in his toe became too significant. He has not played since.
Further tests Wednesday showed the stress reaction. The team did not give a timetable for the return of the Wizards’ second-leading scorer. He will be evaluated again after the All-Star break, which started for Washington after Wednesday night’s game against the Raptors. Washington’s first game after the break is Feb. 20 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“It’s nothing,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman told reporters in Toronto. “It’s just a little hot spot there. That was it. It was nothing more than that.”
The concern for the Wizards is that the 21-year-olf Beal has injured his lower right fibula before. In early April of Beal’s rookie season, the Wizards shut him down because of a stress injury to his lower right fibula. He did not resume basketball activities until August of that year. Beal then missed nine games early in the following season because of another fibula issue, though the problems was in a different spot.
Beal is averaging 15 points a game in his third season. He is shooting 42.3 percent from the floor and 43.6 percent from behind the 3-point line — both career highs.
Otto Porter replaced Beal in the starting lineup on Saturday. Garrett Temple, who started at shooting guard during the first nine games of the season when Beal was out because of a wrist injury, started Monday against the Orlando Magic. Wittman has varied Beal’s replacement in the starting lineup depending on that night’s matchup.
• Todd Dybas can be reached at tdybas@washingtontimes.com.
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