Looking at the Washington Wizards, it doesn’t take long to see similarities between them and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The top two decision-makers there spent significant time in OKC. Wizards GM Will Dawkins started his career in OKC from 2008-23. He worked his way up from intern to VP of Basketball Ops. Washington Basketball president Michael Winger was on the Thunder from 2010-17.

Sorta like DC’s Titans East is to the Teen Titans, the Wizards started from the ground up when Dawkins and Wingers took over in 2023. You can see parallels to what they’re doing right now, compared to what the Thunder did in the early 2020s.

The Thunder took huge swings at the beginning of their rebuild. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was their first blue-chip prospect. Later on, they added talent like Josh Giddey, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams.

Right now, the Wizards are at the same spot in their timeline. They have several intriguing lottery prospects. Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Bub Carrington and Tre Johnson were all added just from the last two draft classes.

But the Thunder’s 127-108 win over the Wizards showed they’re still a long way away. Both franchises are on opposite sides of the NBA highway. The latter hopes to make a U-turn and join the former.

Something tells me Sam Presti would be happy to see Dawkins succeed. After all, he helped develop him in their nearly two decades together at OKC. Dawkins was spotted at Paycom Center pregame being a popular guy, greeting several Thunder staff and players, like Lu Dort.

While none have stood out as the Wizards’ franchise player, there’s still time for one to grab that ring. If not, expect Washington to add another high lottery pick in the 2026 NBA draft class, which is headlined by Cam Boozer, Darryn Peterson and AJ Dybantsa. Any of those three could become Washington’s next All-Star if everything breaks right.

Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault has full confidence in the Wizards’ front office to make the best of their rebuild. It wasn’t that long ago when he was in charge of a developmental season. Now, Wizards head coach Brian Keefe is in his third season.

“Not surprised. (Dawkins) and Michael Winger are both there. They’re strategic, they’re intelligent, they’re high character, good people that’ll get the right type of environment built, as well as the roster stuff,” Daigneault said. “He’s got a great eye for talent and a great eye for teams. So it’s only a matter of time, in my opinion, before they really get it going there because of his vision.”

It’ll be interesting to see how the Wizards continue to navigate their rebuild. They finally decided to start over after years of being mediocre with Bradley Beal. While it might sting to lose so many games, this is the healthiest way to build up a new long-term contender.

The Thunder are the prime example of that. They quickly went from rebuild to NBA champion. While you can’t delude yourself into having the same accelerated expectations, you can at least follow the blueprint, knowing that what they did should provide a safe floor.