Bradley Beal

SNUB...

After his Washington Wizards overcame fatigue and overwhelmed the Cleveland Cavaliers for a 124-112 win Thursday, the second night of a back-to-back set, the coach spoke passionately about Bradley Beal’s standing among the NBA’s all-stars. Brooks heaped about 40 seconds of adoration on Beal, who had just produced his ninth game of the season with at least 35 points and five assists, before stopping himself.

“I know I’m defending him now," Brooks said, “and I don’t know why because I know he’s an all-star."

Beal appears likely to be among the chosen when the reserves are announced Thursday, but would his third straight all-star appearance be his most deserving?

“He’s been banged up, and Brad is not going to make excuses," Brooks said. “He hasn’t shot the ball well, but he’s not going to end up being a 30 percent three-point shooter. The guy is money. You’re an all-star for a reason, and he keeps leading us. That’s what I love about him. None of us expected this season to end up with the situation that we’ve had, but he’s led us and battled for us and puts us in positions to compete every night.”

After scary injury, Jordan McRae toughs it out to help shorthanded Wizards The Wizards, (15-29), barely have more wins than they have had injured players this season (13 including CJ Miles, who was waived this month). And even Beal has needed time to mend: His consecutive games played streak ended at 194 because the pain had become too much to play through. He has missed seven of the Wizards’ 44 games.

“It’s tough. Your body breaks down as you play more games. … Your body gets tired on you a little bit, so I’ve had some soreness that’s obviously kept me out a few games, but it’s nothing I would say is worrisome,” Beal said of playing through shoulder and knee issues. “It wasn’t anything like I’ve had in the past, which is one of my biggest concerns. So it’s just being smart about it, honestly.”

While playing through the pain, Beal has increased his scoring (27.5 points per game) and assists (6.4) from this time a year ago, when Eastern Conference coaches chose him as an all-star reserve. But if the coaches look beyond the numbers this season, they would see that the demands on Beal also have increased.

...AND STARTER!?!?

CHICAGO — Trae Young knows he has haters.

The first-time NBA All-Star is just paying more attention to the respect he's receiving instead.

"The critics, that's gonna come," Young said. "I still had a lot of votes from fans to get to this game. I know there's gonna be a lot of people who have doubt, but there are people out there pulling for me."

Young, 21, is averaging 29.7 points and 9.2 assists for the Atlanta Hawks in his second year. He finished with 2,829,969 fan votes — first among Eastern Conference guards — to secure a place as a starter on Team Giannis' squad in Sunday's game. Yet had he not won that slot, it's unclear if Young would have garnered an All-Star selection as one of the 14 reserves selected by the 30 NBA coaches.

Young plays for a losing team — the Hawks are 15-41, third-worst in the league — and his individual defense is statistically poor. He often is overmatched and too slow to transition. NBA coaches also have been known to snub elite players on bad teams for All-Star reserve spots, even with eye-popping offensive numbers like Young's.

The problem for Young is, his numbers on defense are also eye-popping. According to ESPN's defensive real plus/minus scale, which is a player's estimated on-court impact on defensive performance based on 100 possessions, Young ranks last of 490 players (-4.66). According to Basketball Index's defensive box/plus minus scale, his -2.7 mark ranks among the league's worst.