The Washington Wizards are finally getting healthy

The Washington Wizards have been battered, broken, and bruised all season long. Can they finally claim a healthy(ish) roster?

We know the action is on the court, but have you been paying attention to the Washington Wizards’ sideline this season? It’s been full of suits. And I’m not talking about the assistant coaches. It’s been full of injured Wizards out of uniform.

Have the Wizards ever been “healthy” this season? Good question. The answer, technically, is no. John Wall came into the year with a lengthy rehab road ahead of him. So seeing this team fully healthy at any point this season has always been a pipedream. However, the Wizards’ injuries this season go far beyond Wall.

When things were at their worst, the Wizards were down eight players; seven were injured, one suspended.

Per sportrac, the Washington Wizards have missed a total of 210 games due to injury, trailing only the Golden State Warriors this season.

Less than 50 games into the season, here’s a full list of the players that have missed time due to injury…

• John Wall: 48 games
• C.J. Miles: 28 games
• Moritz Wagner: 27 games
• Rui Hachimura: 23 games
• Thomas Bryant: 20 games
• Ian Mahinmi: 20 games
• Jordan McRae: 19 games
• Garrison Mathews: 12 games
• Davis Bertans: 9 games
• Bradley Beal: 7 games
• Isaiah Thomas: 6 games
• Anzejs Pasecniks: 2 games
• Troy Brown Jr: 1 game

But it looks like the Wizards awful injury luck might finally be turning around. Hachimura is very close and could make his return on Monday vs. the Golden State Warriors.

Mathews could return any day now as he was cleared to play for the Wizards’ 113-107 win over the Brooklyn Nets but was still listed as inactive. Wagner shouldn’t be far behind, either. He’s out of his walking boot and showing some sweet moves during bench mob celebrations.

Somehow, the Wizards have still stayed relatively afloat despite losing nearly every crucial piece for a considerable period of time. At 17-31, the Wizards are 10th in the Eastern Conference and just four games behind the seventh-seeded Nets. The playoffs are far from a pipedream.

Ideally, a healthier roster will mean more wins. When the Wizards were at their healthiest earlier in the season, they were putting up some of the best offensive numbers in the NBA and boasted the league’s top Offensive Rating for a short time. If a healthy roster can resurrect that firepower, it should definitely help them for a final playoff push over these last thirty-some games.

But is that part of the plan? I thought this season was about development and a lottery pick? This team could sneak into the playoffs, sure. But do we really want to see the full array of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s dunks package or suffer another 50-point onslaught from Khris Middleton, during a best of seven series? Probably not.

Then again, if the Wizards happen to rack up wins over the season’s second half and mess up their lottery positioning along the way, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world…would it? It just means this team is further along than literally anyone anticipated. Is that such a bad thing?