Bradley Beal on John Wall partnership: 'We're definitely the best backcourt in the league'

The young backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal played a crucial role when the Washington Wizards made the postseason for the first time in six years last season and won a playoff series for the first time in nine years.

Wall led the team in scoring, assists, steals and PER, and earned his first All-Star selection in the process. Beal turned in an impressive sophomore season, emerging as one of the game's best three-point shooters (40.2 percent).

The duo is definitely starting to earn their place in the "best backcourt" debate, but if you ask Beal, there is no debate.

"We're definitely the best backcourt in the league," Beal said at Wizards media day Monday, via USA Today.

New Wizard Paul Pierce echoed the sentiment. "You've got an opportunity to play with the best backcourt in basketball," he said of his new team.

Pierce's confidence in his teammates isn't surprising, nor is Beal's confidence in his own game, but he and Wall still have a ways to go before they're worthy of such a definitive status.

As a reference, here are the combined Win Share totals (according to Basketball Reference) of some of the league's best backcourts last season:

Wall and Beal are certainly among the most potent offensive backcourts in the league, but they can make strides on the defensive end and can't lay claim to "best backcourt" status until they do.

If Lowry and DeRozan play as well as they did last season, Wall and Beal may not even be the best backcourt in the Eastern Conference, let alone the NBA.

There are also some new backcourt combinations that can at least compete with the Wall/Beal duo, as Isaiah Thomas has joined the already excellent Dragic-Bledsoe combination in Phoenix, while Lance Stephenson has joined Kemba Walker in Charlotte.

Add in backcourt combos like Rose-Butler, Irving-Waiters, Parker-Ginobili, Lawson-Afflalo and Williams-Johnson, among others not named in the table above, and the debate could wage on all day.

The ever confident Beal only sees all that competition as a chance for he and Wall to prove themselves.

"Playing against everybody's a rivalry to us," Beal said, via USA Today. "We want to prove to everybody that we're the best backcourt."