On July 9th, all eyes in the NBA world were on the Washington Wizards' summer league opener against the Utah Jazz, as the hype to see No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa and second-overall pick Darryn Peterson match up for the very first time in their respective pro careers was through the roof.
While AJ showed in his debut why the Wizards brass, led by general manager Will Dawkins, were justified in choosing him first overall, Darryn Peterson, after lighting up Utah summer league, struggled, with second-year guard Jamir Watkins being the primary reason why.
Coming off of a rookie season that turned some heads for the 24-year-old, Watkins showed that his game had taken another jump. Holding a player of the caliber of Peterson to just 4-11 shooting with six turnovers as his primary defender, albeit in a very short sample size, gave Wizards fans the possibility of having an elite defender on the perimeter to match up with the elite guards across the league.
Those of us who were excited for Watkins will unfortunately have to shelve it for a year, as at summer league, whilst guarding Peterson, Watkins tore his ACL, which will sideline him for the entirety of the 2026-27 season.
No doubt this is horrible news for both Watkins and the Wizards as a whole, but I think this is an opportunity for a player who can certainly defend and has flashed some potential, but has fallen to the wayside of excitement for the Wizards.
Bilal Coulibaly.
Bilal has the opportunity to fill a role desperately needed
With the acquisitions of All-Stars Anthony Davis and Trae Young, the selection of Dybantsa, along with Kyshawn George, Alex Sarr, Tre Johnson, and Will Riley, who are sure to have even larger roles offensively than they had last year, Coulibaly is projected to have the lowest offensive workload he’s had with the Wizards.
This only spells good news for the Wiz as well because, not only is the fourth-year wing probably the worst offensive player in Washington's rotation, but it also means he can exercise all of his time and energy into becoming even more of an awesome defender than he already is.
Obviously, to play, he’d still have to provide something on the offensive end. In his defense, he has shown promise on that side as well. If he can be relieved from having to take 10 shots a game the way he did the last two seasons, into someone you are solely asking to stick onto both star guards and wings (and even, in rare cases, bigs) across the league, this takes this already promising Wizards team up a notch.
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