The Washington Wizards offseason moves added an extreme amount of excitement to the team's future.
Between the NBA Draft class headlined by one of the most explosive scorers available in Tre Johnson, the addition of former first-round pick Cam Whitmore and the veteran acquisition of CJ McCollum, Washington's newlook depth chart became the talk of plenty offseason conversations.
The team's newfound depth, abundance of young talent, future financial freedom and draft assets at their disposal made the Wizards future seemed to be among the brighest of any rebuilding team in the league.
However, in ESPN's recent NBA Future Power Rankings, the Wizards didn't receieve any credit for their offseason moves.
In fact, in three years, it appears as if ESPN expects the Wizards to be in the same place they are now and have been for majority of the last decade; at the bottom of the NBA rankings.
Washington has several young players on the roster with high upside.
Looking at Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly, Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George and even AJ Johnson, the Wizards already had a fun foundation to build on entering the offseason.
Then, add on the offseason moves the Wizards made, it seemed like Washington was trending in the right direction not only from fan perspectives, but league perspective.
However, ESPN clearly doesn't believe that ranking them at No. 26 out of 30 in their future rankings.
The idea that the Wizards will still be the 26th best team in the league in three years not only strips optimism from the fanbase, but also discredits the work the team's front office has put in.
Obviously, projections don't define the Wizards future and if they are able to assemble the right mixture of players and coaches, they can immediately flip the narrative surrounding their team alone.
Nonetheless, it feels like the discredit mainly stems from the fact the Wizards have a young roster with no guarenteed building blocks as of now and if that is the case, that's a more than fair argument.
Washington is hopeful they can find their cornerstone to build around this season, but at the moment, banking on unproven prospects and aging veterans isn't exactly the track record for success.
Regardless, the Wizards hope to find that missing piece this season and if they're able to, their ranking should be on the rise not only by ESPN but all other sports outlets as well.