Washington Wizards week in review: Week 13 notes

The Washington Wizards went 0-2 this week, had an injury scare, and keep getting teased by John Wall. Here’s week 13 in review!

Every week, we’ll be reviewing the good, the bad, and the buzz around the Washington Wizards organization and fandom. Many of our articles will be linked here in case you’re behind and want to play catch up.

Not much to get excited about on the court this week, but plenty happening off the court that needs to be discussed. Without further ado, here is your Washington Wizards Week in Review!

John Wall & All-Star Buzz

The weekend started strong with a bang, and some pretty awesome updates about John Wall getting back involved with practice in a limited capacity. Here’s one of the best updates from Staff Writer for The Athletic, D.C., Fred Katz:

There are a ton of questions about the return for John Wall, from whether or not he’ll be an elite player upon his return to the effect on the rest of the roster of his eventual return. The D.C. fandom is decidedly split, with 64.6% of 79 respondents on a Wiz of Awes poll responding that they’d rather sit Wall until next year.

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But it seems like the Washington Wizards organization has the exact opposite in mind, with the feeling around the league that they are VERY optimistic he can make a full recovery from the dreaded Achilles injury. They may be tempted to bring him back sooner than the fan base would want.

As we get closer, the All-Star buzz continues to grow around the Washington Wizards, with the official social media channels for our beloved team continuing to push the #VoteBeal initiative (go to vote.NBA.com before the end of the day TOMORROW by the way, to be able to get our guy Bradley Beal in!) and there’s increasing chatter around the league that Dāvis Bertāns is deserving of a 3-point contest appearance.

A Few Losses & (Almost) Injury

This week was a bit rough on the basketball court, with losses to the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors, but that may be the best thing to happen yet this week as it inches us closer to some lottery picks in June.

On Wednesday we lost to former Wizard Tomáš Satoranský and a spiraling Bulls team that nearly dropped one to the Cleveland Cavaliers later in the week. We rostered one of our strangest lineups of this season in that one. Here’s the recap.

We followed that up with a pretty bad loss to the Toronto Raptors with bad turnovers and 3-point shooting despite the Raptors being without Fred VanVleet. Read that recap here.

In that same game Jordan McRae, the team’s best “health insurance,” took a nasty fall and looked like he might be out some time with an ankle sprain. But the latest updates seem to indicate he won’t miss any time.

This is a huge bullet dodged for the Washington Wizards organization, with the trade deadline coming up and McRae one of the names that has popped up again and again. Ian Mahninmi is another name that keeps popping up, which we explore in this article here. 

If he is forced to miss time, it could mean big things for up-and-coming Gary Payton II though.

A Star Bad Mouths & the Beyond

In general, the direction of the Washington Wizards is a little bit frustrating and it’s not entirely clear to the biggest star on the floor for them where things stand. This week, Bradley Beal decided to voice his frustration with losing and it came at a very curious time, with the Wizards organization clearly looking towards next year.

Obviously, this is a bit concerning as the Wizards look towards 2020-21 and well beyond. Though the overall framework is a little hard to see, our writers here at Wiz of Awes have a pretty good idea about what this team will look like next year.

Either way, it’s a bit of a rebuild this year, whether the organization wants to admit it or not. We’re excited to see what will come and how the organization will respond with Beal untradeable until next season and Wall on the cusp of a return.

That’s the week in review for you, hope you enjoyed it! Next week we’ll have four games, and it should be a big week both on and off the court! Check back next Sunday to see how we fared

– The Wiz of Awes Team

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