Washington Wizards forward Alex Sarr Scott Taetsch/GettyImages

How Wizards Can Still Avoid a Losing Season

Originally posted on Washington Wizards on SI
By Lane Mills | Last updated Nov 3, 2025 7:00 AM ET

While it was extremely early on in the season, the Washington Wizards inspired much promise in a fanbase that has long been buried beneath bottom-level expectations and consistent letdown performances. After their opening-night loss on the road to the Milwaukee Bucks, the Wizards traveled down to Dallas for what is still their most striking performance of the 2025 campaign.

A Semi-Hot Start

In a 117-107 win, which drew their record to a then-inspiring 1-1 mark, the team's high scoring mark defined a defiant road performance against a team, among much else, boasting their number-one overall pick in rookie Cooper Flagg.

Shooting 45.6%/41.7% splits and led by a 34-point triple-double from sophomore forward Kyshawn George, Washington appeared to be turning a former with their revamped roster after two straight seasons failing to reach 20 wins.

Since then, D.C. has lost four games in a row, scoring less and less as the battles rage on and dropping spot-by-spot in the Eastern Conference standings in the process. Given the East's specific downturn this year, with both the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers heavily reeling, the Wizards' failure up to now to take advantage of the chance is made all the more painful.

All the same, the season is far from over, and Washington has shown more than enough promise to suggest that a turnaround is still in the cards.

Patrick McDermott/GettyImages

Seeking Consistency

If any problem can be pinned as the Wizards' greatest pitfall, it'd almost certainly be their inability to do anything that they do well for very long.

While the team has showed elite scoring ability, breaking 120 on multiple occasions and, even if it was in a loss, putting up 134 against the Philadelphia 76ers at home, Washington hasn't been able to translate their piles and piles of points into proofs in the win column.

The team's latest loss is the perfect example of this conundrum; in a blowout home loss to the Orlando Magic, the Wizards scored just 94 points on sub-40% shooting both overall and from long range. It's beneficial to have rookies and similarly young players who can score, but part of scoring in the NBA is doing so consistently.

When you play three times a week, the difference between a good team and a great team is one that can put the ball in the bucket at an elite level in the majority of those matches. If Washington can find a way to simply exercise their scoring expertise more often than they are now, the win-loss split will even itself out.

Until then, they'll be a young team contingent on who's hot and who's not.

This article first appeared on Washington Wizards on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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