Another Disappointing Season 

After failing to reach the playoffs for two consecutive seasons, former Wizards General Manager (GM) Tommy Sheppard was recently fired due to the Wizards’ inability to become a great team. The struggle for the Wizards seems endless, as poor draft selection, lack of player development, and subpar team morale have limited the team. 

Finally after a long and painful wait, the Washington Wizards have finally given the Wizards community hope. After firing Tommy Sheppard, The Wizards appointed former Clippers GM Michael Winger as President on May 24th, 2023. The Wizards also hired Will Dawkins as the new GM. With new people in charge, many changes in the roster occurred. 

Trades

Bradley Beal has a reputation for being one of the best scorers in the NBA. At one point in his career, Beal was averaging 31 points per game along with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Despite his heroic efforts, the Wizards were still a mediocre team at most and it became clear that Beal was not the long term solution to winning games. 

After a hard decision, the Wizards traded their all-star guard along with Isaiah Todd and Jordan Goodwin to the Phoenix Suns. In return the Wizards received Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, Bilal Coulibaly and multiple future draft picks. Kristaps Porzingis, a fan favorite, was also traded to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala in a 3-way deal that brought Grizzlies point guard Tyus Jones to the Wizards. The offseason moves weren’t over just yet, as veteran Chris Paul was traded to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Jordan Poole, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Ryan Rollins. With these new roster changes, the rebuild phase for the Washington Wizards has finally begun.  

What To Expect 

While the rebuilding stage may be a long and difficult time for fans of the organization, the future of the Wizards looks somewhat optimistic for the Washington team. Even though the 2022-2023 season was deemed as a “failure”, players like Kyle Kuzma, Corey Kispert, Deni Avdija and Daniel Gafford have shown they can step up as important players and perform at a high level. All these players are relatively young with tremendous amounts of potential, and with the help of the veteran players and the Wizards coaching staff, the young raw talent of these players could finally bloom. 

The addition of Bilal Coulibaly potentially could help the team grow and improve. Coulibaly is a 6’8” forward and a defensive machine paired with great athleticism. He has shown that he is a reliable player, both on offense and defense during the Summer League. He still has a long way to go, but if the Wizards are able to mold him into the player he can be, they will be a young and scary team to watch out for in the near future. 

With all these hopes come doubt and uncertainty. While this new Wizards team has huge potential, the roster, compared to many teams, is very inexperienced and lacks the winning mentality to transition into a top contender in the Eastern Conference. The Wizards don’t know yet if they can rely on players like Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole to step up as leaders, and bring the Wizards to success.

The new front office is also something to consider. The Wizards have always had mediocre GM’s and owners like Michael Jordan and Tommy Sheppard. While Michael Wingers is regarded as an experienced executive and great negotiator who is ready to lead a team of his own, it should be kept in mind that Winger doesn’t have actual experience of leading or managing a whole team as President. The new GM Will Dawkins is also known as a great GM, who contributed greatly to the OKC Thunder before being hired by the Wizards. Dawkins can certainly be an asset for the Wizards, but compared to other GM’s, Dawkins is still young and doesn’t have as much experience compared to other GM’s throughout the NBA.   

On October 12th 2023, the Wizards had their second preseason game against the Charlotte Hornets, coming back for a 98-92 win. From the start, the Wizards struggled on the defensive end. Many players weren’t closing up on shots which gave the hornets many easy shots, and the help defense was especially weak, causing free offensive rebounds for the opposing players. While the defense needs to improve, the new roster looked great, with the team chemistry being pretty decent. 

It is crystal clear Kyle Kuzma is the star player on this team, scoring 19 points in 23 minutes of play. However, players like Jordan Poole, Tyus Jones, Correy Kispert, Delon Wright, Danilo Gallanari and Mike Muscala all had mediocre performances. The expectations for Poole, Jones and Kispert are set at a high standard, therefore they need to perform at the highest levels. Fortunately it is still the preseason so we cannot assume anything, only make predictions. 

Rookie Bilal Coulibaly had an amazing performance, terrorizing opposing players on defense, and scoring when necessary. Coulibaly’s performances shows signs of him becoming a star player for this Wizards team, but it is still his rookie season and development is much needed. Alongside Coulibaly’s strong performance were Johnny Davis and Eugene Omoruyi. Both players were great defensive players, and showed great signs of basketball understanding, knowing when to score and knowing what to do when on the floor. 

The Wizards went through heavy changes this year, between hiring new management, roster changes, and trading their star players for a rebuild. With all the struggles and doubt the Wizards community has, fans should expect an exciting season, as the new players are performing well, and team morale is healthy. If the Wizards keep this up, and continue to grow as a team, then fans should not be uncertain of the team’s future, but instead be optimistic, and continue to hold on to the hope that Wizards fans have been clinging on to for a while.