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It appears to be for real. Bradley Beal will be returning to the court for the Wizards' game against the Dallas Mavericks, according to Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post. Beal will not start and will be on a minutes limit, which is par for the course with recent Wizards returning from injury.
Beal suffered a broken wrist during the Wizards' preseason loss to the Hornets on Oct. 12. He was initially expected to miss 6-8 weeks, but that was lessened to six weeks after an evaluation. In the end, he'll return in five weeks and five days.
This shouldn't be a surprise after Beal's brother posted this to his Instagram account.
The Wizards have scratched to 7-2 without Beal, grinding out victories against admittedly subpar competition. But they've also done it while badly missing Beal's shooting and coming up with the plays needed to win down the stretch. Beal is a significantly better shooter than Garrett Temple and will breathe new life into the offense with that and his ability as a secondary ball-handler.
Welcome back, Brad!