An intriguing Washington Wizards lineup that could surprise teams
By Cem Yolbulan
The Washington Wizards are embarking on a new journey starting with the 2023-24 NBA season. The rebuilding road to relevance will be a long and painful one. They will likely not be the most competitive team in the short run. There is a good chance they will finish with one of the worst records in the NBA this season. However, that doesn’t mean the Wizards can’t put out intriguing lineups that could surprise teams.
The problem with the Washington Wizards roster is the number of one-way players. There aren’t many Wizards who are above average on both ends of the floor. This makes lineup construction difficult since it’s hard to build well-balanced groups. Yet, there is one lineup that could have both enough offense and defense to make things interesting.
A lineup of Jordan Poole, Corey Kispert, Deni Avdija, Kyle Kuzma, and Mike Muscala possesses enough of everything to help the Wizards win games.
Offensively, Kispert and Muscala provide the shooting and floor-spacing, while Poole and Kuzma act as the shot creators. Muscala is a significant offensive upgrade over Daniel Gafford. Avdija is a capable third playmaker. There may not be high-level passing but there is enough shot creation and shooting to have a competent offense.
This lineup is still light on defense. Having Poole and Kispert as your primary guard defenders and Muscala as the rim protector will make for a leaky defense. However, depending on the opponent, Avdija and Kuzma as the primary point-of-attack defenders could slow down some offenses. Even if they can’t, this group may have enough firepower on the other end to keep up with the scoring.
Even if this group doesn’t end up being successful, they will almost certainly be entertaining. They will likely play with pace, shoot a lot of threes, turn the ball over a lot, and give up transition baskets. If they manage to hit enough threes, they will outscore the opponent and win games.
If not, no harm no foul. In this developmental season, the Wizards and coach Wes Unseld Jr. shouldn’t be afraid to try new things or implement different rotation choices. This lineup should be one.
