5-Year NBA Re-Draft sees Wizards land All-Star point guard before 2 studs

The Washington Wizards are one of the worst teams in the NBA right now, and it’s going to take them a while to climb out of the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

But what if they didn’t have to wait? What if there was a way for them to add a star player to the mix right away to help them turn things around? What if the NBA was shaken up immediately?

That’s the experiment that the Bleacher Report staff conducted with their five-year NBA Re-Draft, where they put all of the players from the last five draft classes into one pool.

Wizards select Tyrese Haliburton in 5-Year NBA Re-Draft

The draft order was determined by winning percentage over the last five regular seasons, meaning the Wizards landed the third pick in the draft, and Grant Hughes wrote about their selection—Tyrese Haliburton.

Haliburton started his career with the Sacramento Kings but truly emerged as a star after getting traded to the Indiana Pacers. He brought them to the Eastern Conference finals this past season, where they got swept by the Boston Celtics.

The 24-year-old point guard is already one of the best playmakers in basketball, and he even earned a spot on the 2024 Olympic team this year, where he will compete for a gold medal.

What stings most about this selection is that the Wizards could have had Haliburton all those years ago. He went 12th in the 2020 NBA Draft, and Washington selected Deni Avdija at nine.

In the re-draft, the Wizards took Haliburton, and they took him directly before a couple of stud players that some could argue are worthy of going above Haliburton.

With the fourth pick in the re-draft, the Houston Rockets selected Tyrese Maxey. The current Philadelphia 76er is one of the most electric young point guards in the league.

Then, at pick No. 5, the Charlotte Hornets took Ja Morant. While Morant may have missed most of this past season, he’s still one of the best point guards in the NBA.

To say Haliburton is the best point guard of that bunch is far from crazy, but there’s an argument that the Wizards should have taken either of those two over him.

All that being said, the Wizards would absolutely love to have Haliburton on their team. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen.