Washington Wizards

The Washington Wizards finished the 2019-2020 season in ninth place in the Eastern Conference with a 25-47 record. Washington won only one game in the restart and went 1-7 in Orlando in the NBA bubble. There were 22 teams that were invited, and the Wizards just barely qualified.

Washington has not made it to the playoffs since the 2017-2018 season as the eighth seed, where they lost to the Toronto Raptors in six games. The Wizards have missed the playoffs for the last two seasons, and may be in a rebuild.

The Wizards have been in Washington D.C. since the 1973-1974 season. They started as the Capital Bullets. After one season with this name, they changed their name to the Washington Bullets. This team name last from 1974-1997. They won one NBA Championship in that span in 1977-1978, against the Seattle Supersonics. They lost to the Sonics in the finals the following season. The Bullets also lost to the Golden State Warriors in the 1974-1975 NBA Finals.

The Wizards became the new team name for the 1997-1998 season. They have not been to the Eastern Conference Finals since the team name was changed from the Bullets to the Wizards.

The Wizards lost to the Miami Heat in 2004-2005, the Indiana Pacers in 2013-2014, the Atlanta Hawks in 2014-2015, and the Boston Celtics in 2016-2017, all before the conference finals.

Washington didn’t really have much of a chance to reach the conference finals in 2005 and in 2014, but they had a solid chance in 2015 and in 2017. The Wizards might have beaten the Hawks had John Wall not gotten injured, and that might have been their best chance to reach the NBA Finals, as the Cavaliers were not that strong that season (though they still had Lebron James).

Washington was a better team than Boston was in 2017, but they couldn’t win a road game as they lost to a plucky Celtics team led by Isaiah Thomas.

Roster/Management/Coaches/Owners:

The head coach of the Washington Wizards is Scotty Brooks. The current owner of the Washington Wizards is Ted Leonsis. Tommy Shepherd is the current general manager of the Washington Wizards. Some of the players on this roster are: Bradley Beal, John Wall, Davis Bertans, Isaac Bonga, Troy Brown Jr., Thomas Bryant, Rui Hachimura, Garrison Matthews, Shabazz Napier, and Ish Smith. The Washington Wizards will own the ninth pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.

Bradley Beal played in 57 games this past season. He averaged 30.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 6.1 APG, 0.4 BPG, and 1.2 SPG. Beal is one of the best shooting guards in the NBA along with Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors, Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat, and Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns. Beal deserves to be on a contending team. He is a walking bucket every single night and a solid wing defender. A few teams that he could be traded to are the Los Angeles Lakers, the Denver Nuggets, and the Dallas Mavericks.

His contract will be up after the 2022-2023 season. Beal is only 27 years old and was the third overall pick out of the University of Florida in the 2012 NBA Draft. He will be owed over $28 million next season, and then over $34 million the next two seasons.

John Wall is 30 years old and is one of the best point guards in the NBA when healthy, though that hasn’t been the case as of late. The speedy guard missed the entire 2019-2020 season with a torn left Achillies. He was also the number one overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft out of the University of Kentucky. For his career, he is averaging 19 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 9.2 APG, 0.7 BPG, and 1.7 SPG. He will be owed over $41 million for the next three years and his contract is also up after the 2022-2023 season.

Stretch forward Davis Bertans averaged 15.4 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.7 APG, 0.6 BPG, and 0.7 SPG. Bertans is 27 year old dead-eye three point shooter who can definitely help a contender if the Wizards decide to move him. Ish Smith is another potential trade piece. The veteran backup point guard averaged 10.9 PPG, 3.2 APG, 4.9 APG, 0.4 BPG, and 0.9 SPG last season.