Bradley Beal and Spencer Dinwiddie Out of NBA Restart; See Updated Eastern Conference Playoff Odds

• Bradley Beal, Spencer Dinwiddie and Taurean Prince will all sit out the Orlando bubble for the NBA’s restart
• With the potential for a play-in tournament, the eighth seed is up for grabs as the eight regular season games get underway later this month
• Get the odds to make the playoffs in the East and discussion on the #8 seed race below

The Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards, two teams fighting for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, are going to be depleted when the NBA restarts later this month.

Already missing several key players, the Nets have lost Taurean Prince and Spencer Dinwiddie for the season’s resumption. Wizards star Bradley Beal will not be entering the bubble either, which is a major blow for Washington who already had Davis Bertans sitting out.

The odds for the three teams competing for the final two Eastern Conference playoff spots can be found below.

NBA Eastern Conference Playoff Odds

Odds taken Jul. 8th

Beal Impact

The prospect of the Wizards getting hot and forcing a play-in tournament for the eight seed was largely dependent on Beal’s availability. With John Wall remaining sidelined, Beal is far and away Washington’s best player. He’s an All-NBA level talent, an offensive force who can take over games and carry his team.

Beal is one of the NBA’s leading scorers at over 30 points per game. Washington’s second-highest scorer, Bertans, opted to sit out the season’s restart ahead of his free agency this off-season. With Beal and Bertans, the Wizards’ upside was sufficient to fancy them to force a play-in considering the players that the Nets will be without.

Without their two highest scorers, however, this Washington team (that has been an offensive powerhouse at times) becomes drastically less scary for Brooklyn (and, to a lesser degree, Orlando). The Wizards’ offensive rating is 6.6 higher with Beal on the floor – he had scored 30 or more points in 31 games this season.

Washington are the worst defensive team in the NBA. They needed to hit a team-wide hot streak offensively to have any real impact in Orlando, and while they still have some nice talent on their roster, it’s hard to see them winning more than one or two games considering the standard of the opposition.

Weakened Brooklyn

The Nets’ 2020 NBA Playoff odds have fluctuated through the season amid rumors about Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. Kenny Atkinson lost his job, and they have – at times – looked like they could miss out on the postseason altogether. The Nets have been favored to make the playoffs throughout the year, but saw their price lengthen to -300 back in January.

Nets players not traveling to Orlando:

👉🏻 Kyrie Irving
👉🏻 Kevin Durant
👉🏻 DeAndre Jordan
👉🏻 Wilson Chandler
👉🏻 Nic Claxton
👉🏻 Spencer Dinwiddie
👉🏻 Taurean Prince

Sheesh.

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) July 7, 2020

There’s no Irving or Durant. Dinwiddie, Wilson Chandler, DeAndre Jordan, Nic Claxton and Taurean Prince will not be travelling to Orlando. That leaves four Nets players who have started more than more than four games this season – Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert, Joe Harris and Garrett Temple.

Brooklyn had a backcourt logjam earlier in the year, and they are now left without an obvious starting point guard. It provides an opportunity for LeVert and Allen to prove their worth (perhaps enhancing their trade value), but it leaves the team desperately thin and short on experience.

Jamal Crawford becomes an obvious transaction window signing candidate, though Gerald Green – who had previously seemed a very good option to provide wing minutes – will not be participating in Orlando.

Most teams will be looking to bolster their depth and sign supplementary pieces in this window. It is more significant for Brooklyn, who need to find players who can potentially play 15 or 20 minutes per game.

This was always a season of transition for the Nets. Even with Prince, Dinwiddie and co. available in Orlando, it was very unlikely they would make it out of the first round. Beating the Bucks, Raptors or Celtics is almost impossible now, but getting playoff minutes for Allen and LeVert will still be helpful for the development of this team.

Nets Have Enough

There was brief speculation about Irving and Durant. It was a fun topic for a bit. Realistically, though, the Nets’ losses to focus on are those who were likely to play anyway. Considerably weakened, of course, Brooklyn are vulnerable to a play-in being forced, but the absence of Beal and Bertans changes the situation drastically.

When looking at the remaining rosters for the Nets and Wizards (before they make their allowed signings), there’s not a great deal to choose between the two. If anything, Brooklyn is the stronger group of players.

With Irving and Durant never likely to be involved, it is Beal’s absence that is the most important. The quantity of absentees is a concern for the Nets, but the importance, the sheer quality, of Beal and Bertans leaves Washington in a very difficult spot.