The Washington Wizards started a long-awaited rebuild last summer, trading away Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis and resetting the roster completely.
This summer, they drafted three new rookies—Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington, and Kyshawn George—who are projected to be the centerpieces of their rebuild alongside second-year forward Bilal Coulibaly.
But they aren’t stopping there. The Wizards and their new front office have brought in veteran big man Joans Valanciunas to help take some pressure off Sarr and provide them with extra support.
This well-rounded strategy is enough to make some other rebuilding teams, such as the Utah Jazz, Brooklyn Nets, and Charlotte Hornets, very jealous.
Wizards rebuilding stragey should make Hornets, Jazz, and Nets jealous
Washington probably traded Beal too late, but they did it eventually. And as a result, they got to completely tear down their roster. Now, they’ll get a chance to focus on their young core.
The Jazz, Nets, and Hornets could be stuck in the middle for a while.
Utah is probably in the best position in terms of assets and young players. They could trade Lauri Markkanen at any second, and their young core of Keyonte George, Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier, and others is solid.
But through the first two years of their new rebuild, they’ve been firmly stuck in the middle, destined to pick in the late lottery but not good enough to make the playoffs. That’s not ideal.
Meanwhile, the Hornets have a young former All-Star in LaMelo Ball, but he can’t stay on the court. They snagged Brandon Miller, too, so they’re alright, but it feels like they are also stuck in the middle.
They’ve cycled through coaches and seem to have landed on a good one in Charles Lee, but they’ve been stuck for so long. Who knows if Ball will work out?
Then there’s the Nets. Brooklyn got an absolute haul of picks from the New York Knicks in the Mikal Bridges trade. It beat the Beal return by a landslide. But they don’t have youth.
They moved all of their picks in the James Harden trade a couple of years back, so now, they’re going to be left rebuilding without control of their own draft selections.
All three teams will probably be better than the Wizards next year, and the Hornets and Jazz have better top-end talent right now, but overall, Washington’s willingness to pick a direction, invest in youth, and bring in veteran support to help right away puts them in prime position.