Following an 130-117 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on April 12, Head Coach Brian Keefe and the Washington Wizards tied a bow on an incredible year of tanking. The team finished with a league-worst 17-65 record, including an abysmal 1-26 run to close the season.
By now, regular season despair is nothing new for the Wizards. This marks the third time in as many years the team has won less than 20 games and extends a streak of losing seasons going back to 2018. However, the ascendance of Washington’s youth, mid-season additions of veterans Anthony Davis and Trae Young and the promise of new prospects in the off-season — including their highly projected 2026 first-round draft pick — offer a clear off-ramp from this near-decade of disappointment. Still, these promises may simply spell new heartbreak for Wizards fans.
The Wizards kicked off the season winning just one of their first 15 games, making it painfully clear they were not looking to contend. This trend only strengthened following the all-star break, after which the Wizards only won three games to close the year.
Despite this, the team’s youth have shown flashes of talent. Center Alex Sarr made significant leaps on both sides of the ball, totaling 2 blocks and over 16 points per game on improved efficiency. Forward Kyshawn George, selected 22 picks after Sarr in the 2024 NBA draft, has likewise ramped up his production during his sophomore season — especially in playmaking, ratcheting up to 4.5 assists along with his nearly 15 points a game. Shooting guard Tre Johnson has also put together a compelling rookie campaign, averaging 12 points a game on admittedly subpar efficiency.
Though these players’ quiet improvement has been overshadowed by the team’s lack of success, they should continue to be integral parts of the organization going forward.
Things aren’t looking up for all of the Wizards. Tanking gives players many opportunities to shine, but some haven’t stepped up as well as Sarr, George and Johnson. Guard Bilal Coulibaly remains a one-sided player, failing to live up to any offensive expectations fans thought he might grow into. Second-year point guard Bub Carrington deserves more time to improve, but his flashes thus far appear to be just that. Carrington remains an inefficient scorer and playmaker who averages a turnover for every 2 assists. An upcoming challenge for Washington, exiting a long rebuild, will be deciding when to give up on players like Carrington and Coulibaly.
The most determining factors of Washington’s success next season, however, lie not in their young core but in their unlikely veteran pickups.
First came a trade with the Atlanta Hawks for point guard Trae Young in January. Washington bought low on Young, hoping he would regain his 2021 form when he led the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals. The 27-year-old played only five games for the Wizards before being shut down for the season, giving a poor picture of what he might look like alongside a healthy roster next year. Still, his past inconsistencies — including making his team worse while on the court and being one of the worst defenders in the league — create doubts for the Wizards to rally behind him as a primary star next season.
The next domino to fall — and the clearest sign that Washington was shifting to a win-now mindset — was Anthony Davis, who was traded from the Dallas Mavericks in February. Davis, a perennial all-star and world-class defender, could create a potent frontcourt with a third-year Sarr next season, if healthy. However, the 33-year-old is also perennially injured — he has only eclipsed the 60-game mark twice since 2018 — which is likely to put a damper on any Washington hope of sustained success with him as a focal point.
Both stars arrive at Washington at inflection points in their career, desperate to kickstart career renaissances as they join a Wizards team that has not played meaningful basketball in years. Next season should provide interesting tests for each player to prove not only that they are worth their contracts, but that they have a place in the league at all.
The Wizards likely enter next season with a lineup of Trae Young, Tre Johnson, Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr and Anthony Davis. The ceiling of this group, especially with projected continued leaps of young players, is ambitious. However, many things will have to go right for them to succeed: Young proving not to be a liability on defense, Johnson and Sarr taking continued leaps in their development, Coulibaly putting together the offensive pieces enough to be serviceable on offense and Davis staying healthy enough to foment a legitimate push for a playoff berth. If it doesn’t all go according to plan, this Wizards core may soon seem like a fruitless answer to years of rebuilding.
The 2026 NBA playoffs officially begin tomorrow, but the Wizards will not be involved. Fans should instead look ahead to the NBA Draft, beginning June 23, where the Wizards hold multiple picks, including a lottery pick that has a 14% chance at landing on the first overall pick. Their next stretch of basketball will be in the Summer League beginning July 9.