When Michael Winger and Will Dawkins took over the Wizards' front office in 2023, they got the go-ahead from ownership to rebuild a roster that had hovered between 25 and 35 wins for five straight seasons. And they wasted no time in tearing things down.
A 15-67 season in 2023/24 - the worst mark in franchise history - earned Washington the No. 2 overall pick in a 2024 draft without any clear-cut future superstars at the top of the class. Alex Sarr was a fine addition in that spot, and the Wizards had acquired a couple extra first-round picks that they used on Bub Carrington and Kyshawn George. But the front office would need a more ample base of young talent - and ideally a singular young cornerstone to build around - before moving onto the next stage of its plan for the roster.
As a result, the 2024/25 season was another slog for the rebuilding Wizards, who traded Deni Avdija to Portland last summer and then leaned further into player development by sending out Jonas Valanciunas and Kyle Kuzma midway through the 2024/25 campaign. With the exception of Jordan Poole, the team's top five players in total minutes ranged from 19 to 21 years old, with second-year forward Bilal Coulibaly joining Sarr, Carrington, and George on that list.
Having relied so heavily on first- and second-year players who probably weren't ready for such major roles, the Wizards unsurprisingly finished dead-last in the NBA in net rating (-12.2) by a significant margin. Unfortunately, a victory over Miami on the final day of the regular season dropped Washington to second in the pre-lottery draft order, and some bad luck on lottery night pushed the club all the way down to No. 6 in the actual draft.
It was a brutal - and unlikely - outcome for a team that had a hard time buying a win for most of the season. Having reduced the roles for productive veterans like Poole down the stretch, the Wizards can't say they avoided outright tanking altogether, but they weren't doing it as egregiously as some of their fellow bottom-feeders -- their 18-64 record was much more about an inability to win than a deliberate effort to lose.
There will be some promising young players available at No. 6, but the prospects with the most obvious star potential - like Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey, and V.J. Edgecombe - figure to be off the board by that point, forcing Winger and Dawkins to get more creative, and perhaps more patient, as they continue trying to build a roster capable of making it back to the playoffs.
The Wizards' Offseason Plan
In addition to the No. 6 overall pick in this year's draft, the Wizards will control No. 18, having acquired it in a deadline deal with the Grizzlies. They also own a small handful of extra first-rounders and swaps in the coming years, along with a plethora of second-rounders.
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