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Every Wizard Who Has Made All-Defense Since 1980
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Every Wizard Who Has Made All-Defense Since 1980

Originally posted on The Lead  |  By Jarrett Spence  |  Last updated May 28, 2025 3:12 PM ET

With the All-NBA Defensive Teams being announced, here are players who made an All-Defensive team with the Wizards.

The Washington Wizards have a lot of defensive potential. The team is full of willing and capable defenders, including Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly, Kyshawn George, and Marcus Smart.

The team is building its identity as a long team that can get the job done on both sides of the court. 

John Wall

Wall led the Wizards to one of their best defensive seasons in the 2014-15 season.

The team finished fifth in defensive rating (103.0). Wall averaged 1.7 steals and .6 blocks. His defensive win shares were tied for first on the team with Marcin Gortat at 4.2.

The team held opponents to .433 FG%, which was second in the league.

Wall earned All-Defensive Second Team honors, the last Wizard to make one.

Larry Hughes

With the Wizards, Hughes led the league in steals at 2.9 per game in the 2004-05 season.

Hughes earned First Team honors for that side of the ball, becoming only one of two Wizards players to make the First Team. The Wizards were near the bottom of the league in defensive ratings (19th), but not due to Hughes’ numbers and effort.

Hughes led the league in steal percentage at 3.8 and was first on the team in defensive win shares with 3.1.

Manute Bol

As a rookie, Bol led the league in blocks with an average of five per game.

Standing at 7’7”, opposing players thought twice about taking the ball up against Bol. Bol finished second in the Defensive Player of the Year race in 1985-86, his rookie year, and made the All-Defensive Second Team.

He led the league in total blocks with 397. He did all this while only playing 26.1 minutes per game.

Bol finished top eight in the DPOY race in his first four seasons with the Wizards, but only made the All-Defensive Team in his rookie year.

His defensive win shares were 9.1 for his career with Washington, and at 4.2 in his rookie year.

The Defensive Young Core

The Wizards have a young core powered by defense.

Sarr is already a powerhouse on defense. He averaged 1.5 blocks and recorded the most games by a teenager in league history with at least one 3-pointer made and one block.

He also joined LeBron James and Tracy McGrady as the only players to record 800+ points, 150+ assists, and 80+ blocks before turning 20 years old. 

Kyshawn George holds the best defensive field goal percentage (DFG%) In The 4th quarter this season, holding opponents to 37.4%, guarding a minimum of 200 field goals. He is also tenth in DFG% this season, guarding a minimum of 500 field goal attempts, holding opponents to 42.3%.

Here are some of the percentages of some of the top players in the league when guarded by George:

Also, Coulibaly locked the stars. Here are the percentages he held them to:

All three will make the All-Defensive Team multiple times in their careers.

This article first appeared on The Lead and was syndicated with permission.

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