Are these Wizards stars underrated in latest player power ranking?

As another NBA season approaches, we have reached the point of the offseason where nothing is really happening outside of the FIBA World Cup, especially for teams like the Washington Wizards. Along with this lull comes speculation regarding the upcoming season and that has not changed at all this year.

Recently, Bleacher Report’s basketball staff put together a ranking of their top 100 players for next season. As many can imagine, the new look Wizards got no love from their team.

Only two players on the Washington Wizards were listed as top 100 players

Despite the strong outings from numerous players on the revamped roster last season, the Washington Wizards have only two players representing them on the list. This is kind of a disappointment as they have a few players who definitely had an argument for one of the lower spots on the list.

Tyus Jones for example had a great 2022-’23 campaign, particularly when Ja Morant was out. He averaged 10.3 points, 5.2 assists, and a steal per game last season and saw those stats increase to 16.8 points, 8.2 assists, and 2 steals per game in 20 games without Morant.

Even Daniel Gafford who averaged 10.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 73% from the field as a starter last season has an argument for the list. Yet he is also left off the list.

Even worse, neither of these players or any other player on the roster likely to have break out seasons are even in the honorable mentions list.

Players like Josh Hart and Kevon Looney snuck onto the main list and the honorable mentions list features Ivica Zubac, Michael Conley, Dillon Brooks, and Jakob Poeltl. Tyus Jones at least has an argument to be on the same level or even above most of these players yet is left off the list.

Now in the description of the two players the Wizards did have make it into the top 100 the writers listed the team as being “generally bad” and using that as a reason to doc points from them.

The two Wizards players who did manage to make the list were underrated

Last season the NBA had 58 players average 20 points per game or higher. Two of those players are new star duo Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma. They both also put up solid numbers in other areas as well and only improved in the absence of co-stars who they will no longer be playing next to.

Without Stephen Curry last season, Jordan Poole averaged 26.1 points, 5 assists, and 0.7 steals per game in 26 games. He had the least minutes per game among the players who averaged 20+ points per game last season and will likely see a huge increase in both minutes and shots with the Wizards.

When Kristaps Porzingis sat last season Kyle Kuzma averaged 25 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game. He is also a plus defender and will likely be getting much better looks next season as he will no longer be used as a bail out option and could even see some time at center.

Despite these monster numbers and pretty great stats even next to multiple All-Star caliber teammates each, Kuzma is listed at 77th in the league and Poole is listed at 76th.

Players who had worse seasons with more of an opportunity last season are listed ahead of them like Michael Porter Jr, Marcus Smart, Chris Paul, and Austin Reaves. Even Chet Holmgren is listed pretty high on their list.

Both Poole and Kuzma deserve to be in or at least near the top 50 on the list and it’s a shame that they slipped so far.

It’s clear that Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma along with the rest of the high-end role players on the Washington Wizards are extremely underrated heading into next season. It will be exciting to watch them prove the world wrong.