What It Means:

"He's improving," Brooks said. "It's still tender. We want to make sure its 100 percent and feels good because you don't want it to linger on throughout the year." It remains to be seen if Beal will be available on both Wednesday and Thursday, when the Wizards take on the Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks, respectively. He almost got in a full practice on Tuesday, so things sound good for his availability on Wednesday. Marcus Thornton will move back to the bench upon Beal's return.

Beal is averaging 15.4 points 2.4 assists, 2.1 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 31.3 minutes per game (seven games). He's making 1.4 3-pointers per contest on a career-worst 36.6 percent from deep. That's contributed to a -0.6 nERD, which would actually be the best of Beal's career, but is currently tied for 12th on the Wizards.