The Washington Wizards struggles this season have been hard to watch.
Not only has the team stacked losses, but the young core assembled in Washington has struggled this season to give any hope to Wizards fans for anything other than a chance at the No. 1 overall pick.
However, with the team's recent push to win games at arguably the worst time they could, they may be lining themselves up from stripping the fans of that possibility in the end.
Following their recent stretch of wins, the Wizards have now taken themselves out of the driver seat for the top pick, giving the Utah Jazz the opportunity to pass them up.
Not only have the Jazz passed them up, but if Utah does manage to earn the top pick, they may be a team that could entice Duke star Cooper Flagg to officially declare for the NBA Draft; a decision that seemed to be trending in the opposite direction when the Wizards seemed poised to have the top pick.
And while that is without a doubt the last thing fans of the Wizards hoped to happen at this point of the season, one thing that has finally happened that the fans hoped for is the emergence of reigning No. 2 overall pick Alex Sarr.
Alex Sarr finally shows flashes
Alex Sarr has struggled severely since entering the league. From the time he stepped foot in the Summer League, to posting abysmal shooting percentages throughout his rookie campaign. However, even throughout the struggles, the French product has continued to work past his issues knowing he had more to offer than what the statline showed.
Against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, the 7-footer finally put it together and had one of the best games of his young career to date. The 19-year-old ended the night with 34 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, while leading the Wizards past the Western Conference contenders in a 126-123 win.
In addition to his strong offensive night against Denver, the big man also added a steal and a block on the defensive end, while limiting himself to 2 turnovers proving he can go toe-to-toe with the top talents in the league and take care of the ball.
Obviously, this isn't exactly what fans of the team hoped to see at this point of the year in terms of blowing their chances at the top pick. However, getting the opportunity to finally see a flash of the potential the Wizards drafted Sarr for may be worth dealing with this win.