Mar 24, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards forward Khris Middleton (32) looks on during the first quarter against the Toronto Raptors at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

Veterans Are Key Factors for Wizards

Originally posted on Washington Wizards on SI
By Tyrone Montgomery | Last updated Aug 1, 2025 5:00 PM ET

When starting a job, expectations aren’t high for you at that time. Employers tend to have some form of patience early on into your career. However, they still want and expect you to become the employee in which they hired. Oftentimes, they tend to have experienced workers train you to show you the way they had success. The same is so within the organization of the Washington Wizards.

The rebuilding of the Wizards has required a lot of patience over the years. While they have accumulated a lot of young, talented players, they still are raw in a sense and learning what it takes to win in the NBA. That is why the Wizards have had a revolving door of veteran players on the team. In a recent interview, former Wizard John Wall had high praise for former Wizard Paul Pierce as he said, “Me and Brad (Beal) blossomed early. We were a good tandem, but we didn’t know how to win and be a closer at the time. Paul Pierce showed us how to win and be a closer.”

John Wall Discusses His Time In Washington And What Went Wrong In The Wall/Beal Era

"I Think We Matched Up Well With [The Cavs]... I Wanted To Play With 30 PPG Beal... We Was Missing One Piece"

AMAZING Insight Into The John Wall Wizards pic.twitter.com/meM0uGigzO
— WizardsMuse (@WizardsMuse1) July 29, 2025

Pierce was late in his career as he played for the Wizards. No doubt, he was close to the end as he was 36 years old. However, he still proved to be a great player and leader for the Wizards. That is why the Wizards value Khris Middleton and CJ McCollum. Throughout this rebuild, the Wizards always had a veteran on the team to mix in with the youth movement.

Middleton and McCollum are great leaders as they have had success throughout their years in the league. Middleton has won a championship in his NBA career. Both McCollum and Middleton are positional players who will benefit the young players the Wizards value the most, being Bub Carrington, Tre Johnson and Bilal Coulibaly. They will also be able to assist Alex Sarr with where he needs to be on the floor, as they have played with some of the best bigs of all-time in the league in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Zion Williamson.

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

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