The Washington Wizards are heading into arguably one of the most pivotal offseasons in franchise history, with the chance to earn the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.
Like seasons in the past, Washington has positioned themselves to select within the top half of the draft to potentially find their next building block to add alongside their young core. With Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly, Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George and even AJ Johnson in place for the team's rebuild, they have a chance to add a franchise-altering talent to the mix.
And while that alone is encouraging, Washington has to make the right selection this time around considering there is a lot riding on the outcome of this pick.
The last thing the Wizards want to do is end up in the position to regret passing up on a talent like they did in the 2022 NBA Draft class.
Wizards missed out on Jalen Williams in favor of Johnny Davis
In 2022, Washington had the opportunity to land a future star with the No. 10 overall pick when they selected Johnny Davis out of Wisonsin over Jalen Williams.
Davis was selected with a top-10 pick after an impressive sophomore campaign, where he averaged 19.7 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2..1 assists while shooting 42.7% from the field and 30.6% from beyond the arc.
Obviously, the stats in his final year of college look good, but it seems that the Wizards and their front office allowed for the stats to blind them of the clear weaknesses in Davis's game that would prevent him from making the jump at the next level.
Davis played three seasons in Washington before he was traded to Memphis ahead of February's deadline. Soon after that, the guard was cut and now he finds himself on the outside looking in.
Meanwhile, Williams is in the midst of an All-Star season looking like one of the best two-way players in the league, averaging 21.6 point, 5.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists on shooting splits of 48.4% from field goal range and 36.5% from three.
On Sunday, Williams put together an impressive performance in Game 1 of the Oklahoma City Thunder's first-round series against the Memphis Grizzlies. In the 51-point win, the Santa Clara product finished with 20 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 block in 26 minutes of play.
Not only is Williams developing into a star for OKC, but he continues to make the Wizards regret their decision to overlook him in 2022.