After starting the season off 4-3, the Washington Wizards are currently on a four-game losing streak. They sit at a pretty undesirable 4-7, and a lot of that is due to extremely subpar bench production. Their latest loss to the Detroit Pistons saw a 44-point night from Anthony Davis spoiled by the bench scoring eight total points.
It's not to say the bench doesn't have talent. Tre Johnson, Deandre Ayton, Bilal Coulibaly, and Bub Carrington have all shown flashes of being a solid unit, but they haven't been consistent. It doesn't help that Khris Middleton, brought in to be a solid contributor, is currently out of the rotation, considering they could really use his skill set.
Either certain guys need to improve, or Will Dawkins and the front office need to extensively look at upgrades because, so far, this has not been a playoff-caliber bench unit.
The Wizards bench has been abysmal this season
Coming into the year, many were pretty high on the Wizards' bench. Johnson showed incredible flashes in his rookie year, potentially already being one of the league's top shooters, and Carrington improved his shooting a lot last season, shooting 40.1 percent from distance.
Deandre Ayton, despite the criticism, has put up solid numbers his entire career, and coming into the season, he should have been looked at as one of the better backup bigs in the league. Some were also convinced that Middleton would be a great addition, as he showed some life during his Dallas Mavericks tenure last season.
However, it's been far from that case. Johnson is going through a major sophomore slump right now, shooting just 35.1 percent from the field and 24.5 percent from three, as a player whose main skill is being a dead-eye shooter. Carrington's shooting has been impressive, going 48.6 percent from deep, but he's only taking 3.2 per game. If he's shooting that well from deep, he has to take more, considering he's a lot less productive inside the arc.
Coulibaly provides solid perimeter defense like he always does, but the 3-pointer just never falls for him. In his rookie season, there were flashes of him being a shooter, where he shot 34.6 percent, but this season, he's way down to only 16.7 percent from the 3-point line.
The Wizards should be looking at trades to improve the bench
The Wizards can't continue wasting an All-NBA-caliber season from Davis with poor bench play. It's not complete doomsday yet, and especially in Johnson's case, the odds are that he's just in a funk he'll break out of soon, but if things don't start improving, moves do need to be made.
Finding a guard creator who can initiate an effective offense off the bench, as well as consistent 3-point shooting, should be the number one priority for the front office. Davis won't want to spend his remaining prime years on a losing team, so either the tide turns with the current group, or some uncomfortable decisions might need to be made.
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