The Washington Wizards have penty of young talent on the roster to be excited about moving forward.
General manager Will Dawkins is to thank for that, with several intriguing prospects being added to the team's rebuild over the last couple offseasons.
With the likes of Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George and Tre Johnson coming to mind, the Wizards youth movement is fully underway.
However, the one name not mentioned is Bilal Coulibaly, who after his showing in EuroBasket for Team France, may not be one of the prospects that will bring excitement for fans moving forward.
Coulibaly's struggles overseas this offseason have potentially been the final straw that will cause not only the fanbase, but the front office to admit that draft the French product may have been a mistake after all.
Entering the league, the idea of Coulibaly's unique skillset and elite positional size was one of the biggest reasons that the Wizards felt comfortable in drafting him so high.
The potential seemed to be off the charts, with this defensive upside and developing offensive game.
In fact, during his sophomore season this past year, Coulibaly showed flashes of his two-way potential with a leap offensively.
However, even then, there wasn't enough improvement that made the team feel comfortable that he could be the future of the backcourt, which ultimately led to the addition of Tre Johnson with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Nonetheless, with Coulibaly missing out on Summer League action, the opportunity for him to represent his home country in EuroBasket play seemed like the perfect chance for the oversized guard to use competition to continue rounding out his game.
Unfortunately, his play internationally not only added doubt to the idea that he could ever take the leap the Wizards need him to, but it also added the regret feeling that potentially Washington swung and miss on potential in this particular instance.
The Wizards selected Coulibaly over several other prospects in the 2023 NBA Draft class and looking back to where things stand today, it feels safe to say that Washington may have been better off taking a swing on potential on another young player like Jarace Walker for example.
Why?
Coulibaly didn't just look average in EuroBasket play. Instead, he genuinely looked bad.
The guard's aggressive defensive play put him in tough positions, often finding himself in foul trouble and offensively, his struggles were the opposite of what the Wizards hoped to see.
Moving forward, Coulibaly has a lot to prove if he hopes to stick around in D.C. for the long haul.