The Washington Wizards now know where they'll select with their top pick in the upcoming NBA Draft in June.
Washington finished the season with an 18-64 record and with a young core to begin their rebuild around, it's clear that the Wizards are closer to competing for another lottery pick next season than they are to competing for a playoff spot.
However, one benefit to that is the Wizards have the playing time to spare for a top prospect to develop into the cornerstone alongside Alex Sarr that they're desperately seeking to boost their rebuild moving forward.
Now, after finding out they'll be selecting No. 6 overall in next month's NBA Draft, it's clear where the Wizards should go from here.
Wizards must try and move up
Entering the NBA Draft Lottery, the Wizards worst-case scenario was falling out of the top five as a whole. Their nightmare became a reality on Monday night with the team falling to No. 6, where they'll now not only miss out on Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper, but they also will likely miss out on players like Ace Bailey or VJ Edgecombe if they stand pat.
In a pivotal offseason for the franchise, their best bet if they're sold on one of the top prospects is to do everything they can to find a way to trade up into the top 3, that is if they can even find a trade partner to do so.
The fact of the matter is that this NBA Draft is pretty top heavy when it comes to the top prospects. Following the top two players arguably the rest of the prospects seem to drop a tier and it could be hard for the Wizards to persuade any franchise to make the move down.
With the Dallas Mavericks earning the No. 1 pick, they're a team that absolutely nothing the Wizards could offer would entice them enough to get a deal done. Similarly, the San Antonio Spurs at No. 2 and the Philadelphia 76ers at No.3. would be a hard team to trade up with considering their current positions.
That said, if the Wizards exhaust all options and are forced to stand pat, they'll have to hope that a Tre Johnson or Jeremiah Fears can pan out for them and prove that their potential was just as high as any of the top picks to go ahead of them.
For Washington fans, this is the most disheartening result to the NBA Draft Lottery as it could've been for them.