The door is still left slightly open for the Chicago Bulls

With Bradley Beal out, not only do the Wizards’ chances of moving up in the standings decline drastically, but their chances of declining in the standings increase drastically. Washington leads the Pacers by a half a game for the 9-seed in the Eastern Conference, but the Chicago Bulls are not done just yet! 

Chicago currently sits 2.5 games behind the Pacers for the 10-seed in the Eastern Conference and they sit 3 games behind the Wizards for the 9-seed. The Bulls have been very inconsistent all season long, but both Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine are healthy and on the court again, which is why they could rattle off some late season wins to make a last ditch effort to make the play-in tournament. 

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With two games against Brooklyn, a game against Milwaukee and a game against Toronto left on their schedule, the Bulls will definitely have their work cut out for them, but they could give themselves a chance to make the play-in tournament if they won 3 of these 4 games. 

Washington could easily lose both games on the road they have against the Atlanta Hawks without Bradley Beal and Indiana could potentially lose to the 76ers, Bucks and Lakers in back-to-back-to-back games, which is why the Bulls are not out of the playoff picture quite yet. 

Bradley Beal being out gives the Bulls better odds to potentially make the play-in tournament and if Washington is the team to lose games out of them, the Pacers and the Bulls, then the Wizards could be the team that winds up missing the play-in tournament.