John Wall and Bradley Beal taking next steps in their relationship

RICHMOND — Even without the ball, John Wall and Bradley Beal were in sync Monday.

When Wall spoke, Beal often nodded. The same was true in reverse. They giggled together and muttered from time to time out of range of the microphones in front of them, a tendency that has grown in the last season-plus.

When asked if they remembered not getting along, they both smirked as the question was delivered. The stunningly transient NBA has made the kind of five-year pairing that belongs to Wall and Beal albino-crow rare. The two have led Washington in scoring for five consecutive seasons. Only the Los Angeles Clippers had the same top-two scorers for that time period. The Wizards can do it again. The departure of Chris Paul assures the Clippers, and Blake Griffin, cannot.

Together, that leaves Wall and Beal as an exclusive, high-scoring, grown-up version of themselves wondering what further continuity will mean.

“I felt like it was funny then because it kind of just came out of nowhere,” Beal said of the relationship chatter. “I don’t know. I don’t really understand it. We’ve been together, this is six years for me, eight for him. That’s a long time in this league, especially. I feel like us being together and guys leaving or whatever, it doesn’t change our dynamic. I feel like that builds us up. That’s a legacy that we’re building here, and we’re trying to accomplish something like the championship team in ’77-78.

“We want our names up here one day,” Beal said when looking up at retired jerseys around the practice court. “It’s important to us. We still laugh at it today. … We realize that he wouldn’t be where he is without me and vice versa. I damn sure wouldn’t be where I am without him. It’s a respect thing. It’s kind of funny still. We love each other. We’re brothers.”

That, in part, is revisionist history. A refresher: The discussion around the pair’s relationship came after Wall explained in August of 2016 that the two did not get along at times. That was during a sitdown on-camera interview with CSN Mid-Atlantic, video of which has been conspicuously missing from the Internet for almost a year. When former Wizards guard, and Wall and Beal friend, Garrett Temple, visited last season with the Sacramento Kings, he said the only thing that surprised him about the storyline is that it did not make it to the public earlier. Temple explained that the duo’s on- and -off-court relationship was filled with head-butting well before Wall’s on-camera interview and had improved by that time.

Their relationship has continued because each has grown to understand the benefit of the other. It was also helped by the $300 million-plus team owner Ted Leonsis has provided them in new contracts, plus Beal’s ability to finally stay on the floor throughout a season. The latter was the biggest question about him. He corralled his health last season, cut down on his midrange jump shots and worked around the rim much more thanks to a tightened-up dribble.

“The toughest thing you have is two young players that want to be great,” Wall said. “Sometimes it might work and sometimes it might not work out. But us being brothers, we put everything to the side and we make things work because we both want to be great. I couldn’t be the point guard I am without him. He couldn’t be the player he is without me.”

They met during AAU travels, well before the Wizards were in a spot to pick Beal third overall. Once they were, Wall was still dealing with injuries and is-he-worth-it chatter. He saw Beal’s skillset at Florida and thought picking him should be a “no-brainer’ for the organization. When Beal arrived in the District, Wall warned that things were going to be rough early. He also explained the pressure that was going to come.

They would argue about typical teammate stuff, particularly for two players on the come-up: who shot when, if one missed the other on a play, end-of-quarter decisions.

“Those are the things you are going to deal with,” Wall said. “Every star tandem is going to deal with those problems at times. We can have an argument in the locker room or have an argument in practice. The next day we step on the court, we go right back that out there and play. We put that to the side.”

That, to Wall, is the key now. They will still argue. But, they will also move on in the right direction. Good health helped catapult each into personal-bests last season. An instant byproduct of that was the Wizards’ best season in 40 years.

Wall’s summertime extension hitched the pair until 2021. At that point, Wall will have finished his 11th season in the league, Beal his ninth. The average length of a marriage in the U.S. that ends in divorce is eight years. As an NBA relationship, Wall and Beal are already in their golden years.