Bradley Beal’s ‘brother’ is gone, but he’s looking forward to playing with Russell Westbrook

Now the longest-tenured Wizards player, Beal spent the first few minutes of his virtual news conference Friday lauding Wall for his community service and speaking about the strength of their relationship, just as General Manager Tommy Sheppard and Coach Scott Brooks did earlier Friday morning in their first availability with reporters since the deal was announced Wednesday night.

But Beal only had a few minutes to give. With the first day of practice officially in the books — the Wizards conducted only individual workouts Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday because of coronavirus restrictions — Beal had to turn his focus to the future.

“Our brotherhood continues. I’ve had conversations with John over the last few days, and they’ve been nothing put positivity and nothing but great conversations,” Beal said. “… But today was the first day of camp, so I kind of have to shift my focus to the Wizards and bringing Russ in and welcoming him and making him feel comfortable, getting this thing off and running.”

Beal, 27, is comfortable shouldering the role as the leader of these Wizards. He must now shift from playing with a point guard he has known since he was in high school to a 32-year-old with a strong personality, forceful game and notoriously tight circle.

Westbrook arrived in Washington and visited the Wizards’ training facility for the first time Friday but did not work out. Beal said he thinks it will be a smooth transition — and not just because the two point guards have many stylistic similarities.

It begins with how Beal views their on-court roles. He sees himself as a true shooting guard and Westbrook as a true point guard despite Beal’s increased playmaking acumen during Wall’s absence to injury the past two seasons and Westbrook’s known penchant for scoring.

But perhaps most significant is Beal has trust that their on-court personalities — not just their games — will blend well. Beal respects Westbrook as a player for his talent as much as his diligent preparation for each practice and game. He also knows he will have to be adaptable throughout the season.

The St. Louis native said he’s eager to get to know and learn from Westbrook, with his nine all-NBA selections and an MVP award, though the two don’t have much of a prior relationship.

“I’m definitely curious to see the adjustment I make playing with Russ,” Beal said. “I will say I know him off the court a little bit. I am a fan of his. He’s a family man, great guy, great character guy. So I believe we’ll mesh well and jell well. . . . I’m adaptable, very easy to play with, so I don’t think it’ll be a problem at all.”

While Beal went with the concept of adaptation and adjustment, Brooks — who has experience bridging two strong personalities after coaching Westbrook and Kevin Durant on the Oklahoma City Thunder — had something a little stronger in mind.

The coach anticipates both star guards having to make sacrifices.

“They’re determined guys; they have a big-time drive in their work ethic, their professionalism, what they’re about off the court. There’s a lot of things — they remind me of each other,” Brooks said. “So there’s going to be some figuring out to do with myself and my staff. But they’re about sacrificing. We know, if we want to get to the place we want to get to, we have to sacrifice. … It’s going to take an entire 15-man roster to make some sacrifices, where we want to get to.”

The Wizards’ ultimate goal is still reaching the playoffs; that doesn’t change with Westbrook, who will wear jersey No. 4 rather than the No. 0 he wore with the Thunder and the Houston Rockets (despite getting the blessing on Instagram of former Wizard Gilbert Arenas, whose nickname, Agent Zero, was derived from his number).

But what has shifted with Westbrook’s arrival is Washington’s expectation as to when this team might hit its groove.

Both Westbrook and Beal are healthy — Beal said his shoulder feels “great” after a nagging injury kept him out of the team’s trip to the NBA bubble over the summer — whereas Wall was going to have to be eased back into a full load of minutes after coming off an Achilles’ injury.

Brooks, Beal and Sheppard agree that Westbrook’s trademark competitive drive also will set a standard of competition that often faltered with Wall on the sideline and Beal shouldering a young roster as a solo leader.

“You know, the expectations for us, regardless of who’s on the roster, is we’re going to be a better team,” Sheppard said. “There’s more continuity, just simply having the guys we were able to play last year. Expectations are, if we’re able to stay healthy, we’re going to have more wins this year. Adding Russell certainly impacts our expectations that we can hit our stride a little bit quicker.”