There's no secret that when the Washington Wizards finally decided to push the restart button, a rebuild was already long overdue.
Washington missed the opportunity to capitalize on star players, struck out on several draft prospects and mismanaged just about everything they could have.
However, those mistakes were made by a previous regime, which is exactly why the team opted to go in a different direction when they opted to restart from the ground up.
Up to this point of the rebuild, it's fair to say that the team's new front office regime of general manager Will Dawkins' and President of Monumental Basketball Michael Winger have done a more than solid job assembling one of the best young cores in the league.
Beyond that, the Wizards have made an abundance of moves through both free agency and the trade market that have helped them get one step closer to the ultimate goal of competing in the Eastern Conference sooner rather than later.
Still, the disrespect of the team's front office continues to come; this time from CBS Sports.
CBS Sports ranks Wizards front office 9th worst in NBA
In a recent article ranking the front offices 1-30 across the league, the Wizards found themselves catching a stray bullet that honestly many would consider unfair.
After being ranked at No. 18 in July, the Wizards front office somehow found themselves going backwards, even after the blockbuster acquisitions of four-time All-Star Trae Young and future Hall of Famer Anthony Davis ahead of the NBA trade deadline.
The reasoning?
"The Wizards were stuck in the middle for so long during the Bradley Beal era," Sam Quinn of CBS Sports writes. "
"They're not necessarily trapped there, but their fate hinges so heavily on the 2026 lottery now. Miss out on a franchise player and you might have a team that's just good enough to prevent them from getting a top draft pick in the near term and not quite talented enough to compete for titles for the long haul. The patient approach was by and large working."
To make matters worse, Quinn compared the Wizards to the likes of the Utah Jazz, who ranked 8th best, which might seem good if you ignored the fact that his reasoning for ranking Washington so low is not being able to give the team the "benefit of the doubt."
Sure, Washington may not be as far along as some teams in their rebuild, but with the cards they've been dealt, they have done a tremendous job rebuilding their core.
Between turning Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma into Trae Young and Anthony Davis, to finding hidden gems in a rather weak 2024 NBA Draft class in Alex Sarr and Kyshawn George, Washington deserves come credit.