After starting the season 4-3, the Washington Wizards have since lost five straight games. The optimists of this Wizards group could chalk up losses to the Pistons or Thunder as understandable, being that those teams are rightfully considered contenders. Yet, after losing to the 3-8 Tyrese Haliburton-less Pacers, it is clear that despite improvements and the hope that this year would be different, the Wizards have not turned a corner into prosperity yet.
This team continues to be less than the sum of its parts
Whether it’s the continued disappointing play of Trae Young, the seemingly disappeared jump we thought we saw last year in big man Alex Sarr, or the continued underwhelming play of a bench that should be producing more, it is just an indictment of third-year Head Coach Brian Keefe and his staff that more isn’t being produced from this group.
In fact, when adding in the at times alarming inconsistent play of former lottery picks Tre Johnson and Bilal Coulibaly, respectively, the only person who we can definitively see improved from last season is Kyshawn George, who is turning into one of the league’s best young wings.
For a team stocked with young guys with high potential who are homegrown due to the last two years of tanking, this is unacceptable. Add the additions of veterans to the roster that Will Dawkins brought in, like future Hall of Fame big man Anthony Davis, NBA Champion Khris Middleton, former No.1 overall pick Deandre Ayton, and Young, to help in developing these players, and it makes seeing this team still struggle with the same bad habits so head-scratching and frustrating.
The losing sucks more now than in previous seasons
Just to clarify, the Washington Wizards are better than they were in the previous two seasons.
For example, the team won their fourth game of this season on Nov. 2 against the Orlando Magic. In the 2025-2026, and 2024-2025 seasons, the Wizards did not accomplish that feat until Dec. 14 and Dec.19 in each years once their records were already at 4-20, and 4-21 respectively.
Fans knew that it was only up from there, but the inability to leave the Eastern Conference’s basement, and lack of progression game to game, makes this more upsetting than the last two seasons, where they went just 35-129.
This team, unlike those, is trying to win. The Wizards put together this roster of both exciting young guys and star veterans around them, and yet again, the team feels irrelevant before Thanksgiving.
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