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In front of a friendly crowd in his hometown, Chicago Bulls rookie Ayo Dosunmu just had the game of his professional basketball life. In 31 minutes of play against the Wizards, Dosunmu put up a career-high 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and added five boards, four assists and three steals. Meanwhile, the Bulls won the game 130-122.
As sweet as that was for the Morgan Park alum, though, the night will perhaps be best remembered for an exchange he had with Washington star Bradley Beal. Or, more specifically, what happened as a direct result of it.
After Dosunmu got whistled for two traveling violations in less than 90 seconds during the fourth quarter, Beal was there to offer his opponent a bit of advice. The message was simple: don’t hesitate — go get yours.
That’s exactly what the Bulls wing did, too.
A Quick Learner
Mere moments after his consecutive miscues, Dosunmu found himself receiving a pass from Tony Bradley behind the three-point line during an ensuing possession. However, instead of head-faking and shuffling his feet — as he did when he was whistled — the Bulls rookie immediately took the ball baseline.
From there, he pulled up and hit a jumper in Beal’s face.
“After the travel, the play before I scored, [Beal] was like ‘Just go deliberately. Deliberately go one way and then just get into your shot. Don’t think about it, just take it and drive and get to your spot,'” Dosunmu said, via the Chicago Sun-Times. “The next play I did it on him.”
The three-time NBA All-Star was left shaking his head after the ball hit home. “[Beal] was like, ‘I didn’t say do it on me, I just said do it in the future,'” Dosunmu revealed.
Beal recounted the exchange as follows:
“He was traveling, he got called for two travels in the corner because he was very indecisive… As a young player, you’ve got to kind of know what you’re about to do before you receive the ball. I looked at Coach [Billy] Donovan and he was telling him to just catch and go. And it’s funny, I told him the same thing. I was like, ‘You just gotta catch and rip, don’t shuffle your feet. You catch and shoot or you catch and go.'”
Ayo Appreciates What Beal Did for Him
Dosunmu made a point to shout out Beal for the assist, noting that it was something he hadn’t experienced to that point.
“That probably was my first time [an opposing] vet has done that,” Dosunmu said. “But it just shows what kind of player and person he is, also. He saw something that could have been corrected, and he saw something in me that he could help me correct, and he gave me advice.”
He added, “I think that’s just cool of him, and I appreciate that because him being one of the best scorers in this league, getting advice from him, that’s how the trend continues.”
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