The Washington Wizards returned to action on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Washington's recent losing streak has perfectly displayed all of the team's issues over the season, and with a mostly healthy squad, the Wizards and head coach Brian Keefe have simply run out of excuses for how poorly they've played.
Kyle Kuzma is back in the lineup, the team's young core has over half a season of experience under their belt and the team's veterans, like Jonas Valanciunas have done all they can do to mentor the team's inexperienced group.
However, between all of that, the Wizards have continously put together lackluster performances and in large part their lack of effort on a nightly basis is largely contributing to their embarassing outings.
Following their 134-96 loss to the Lakers on Thursday, Washing has now posted back-to-back games where they've scored less than 100 points.
As a result of the team's 16-game losing streak, it's led to frustrations boiling over for multiple players with one of the longest tenured Wizards Kyle Kuzma expressing his displeasure with how the team has performed as of late. Although the 29-year-old's time in Washington is seemingly nearing an end, it's fair to say that his frustrations with the team's current production is more than warranted.
So where does this leave the Wizards ahead of the NBA trade deadline?
The Wizards lead the race for the No.1. overall pick with the likes of Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper headlining the upcoming NBA Draft. It seems fair to assume that one of these three players will become a Wizard at some point in the coming months, which makes it clear that Washington's losing tendencies may be a blessing in disguise.
Despite that, general manager Will Dawkins still has plenty of decisions to make when it comes to the future of players like Kuzma, Valanciunas, Brogdon and even Jordan Poole.
None of these players have contributed to wins during their time in Washington, and their future timelines don't align with the Wizards rebuild.
With the team clearly prioritizing the development of their young players, there's little to no reason to keep all of the veterans on the roster past the deadline, especially when they can get a solid return for most of them now as contenders look to bolster their roster ahead of the playoffs.
That said, expect the Wizards to be very active ahead of the deadline navigating ways to offload their top veterans as it's clear that even the experience these players offer has little impact on the performance of their young group.