This season has offered plenty of promise in terms of the Washington Wizards future for a variety of reasons.
Not only has the team seen major leaps from sophomores Alex Sarr and Kyshawn George, but the team has also managed to find several bright spots in their reigning rookie class with both first-round picks Tre Johnson and Will Riley showing plenty of flashes up to this point.
In fact, the team has also seen enough promise from a pair of second-round picks in Tristan Vukcevic and Jamir Watkins, that Washington's depth chart has only gotten deeper with both players being inked to standard contracts over the last couple weeks.
Oh, and the obvious elephant(s) in the room with the team's acquisitions of four-time All-Star Trae Young and future Hall of Famer Anthony Davis ahead of the NBA trade deadline.
However, beyond the Wizards' signs of optimism over the last few months, the team has also been given several reminders of past mistakes that continue to haunt them.
The most obvious comes with the sudden emergence of Deni Avdija with the Portland Trail Blazers this season earning NBA All-Star honors, averaging 24.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.6 assists on 46.3% shooting from field goal range and a 34.1% clip from beyond the arc.
In addition to Avdija's emergence, Washington has been forced to watch yet another former player breakout elsewhere and thanks to Bleacher Report's latest rankings, the Wizards are forced to face the questionable move once again.
BR list Ryan Rollins as most underrated player in the NBA
Ryan Rollins NBA career has been quite the journey, and he's only been in the league for four seasons.
The Toledo product has bounced around the league before finding a home in Milwaukee, with one of his failed stops coming in Washington after he found himself being let go after just 10 games following an off the court issue.
Now, he's emerged as not only one of the top players for the Milwaukee Bucks, but one of the top rising stars in the league.
Averaging 17.2 points, 5.4 assists and 4.6 rebounds, while shooting 47% from field goal range and 41.8% from beyond the arc, the 23-year-old has become one of the most impactful backcourt players in the league, who's consistently flown under the radar.
Nonetheless, based on Bleacher Report's Greg Swartz ranking of the most underrated players in the NBA right now, Rollins won't be overlooked much longer.
"NBA fans outside of Milwaukee or Toledo may not be very familiar with Ryan Rollins," Swartz writes. "The former MAC star turned starting point guard for the Bucks will make sure you know his name soon, however."
"A second-round pick in 2022 who's been traded, waived and played on a two-way contract, Rollins has become Milwaukee's third-leading scorer and one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA," he continued.
Rollins is beyond talented and while Washington's backcourt is in a much better place now after the addition of Young, his rise in the East will continue to force the Wizards and their fanbase to wonder how his development in Washington would have played out.