Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images

Washington Wizards 2025-26 projected starting lineup as new era begins in the capital

Originally posted on NBA Analysis Network
By Aaditya Krishnamurthy | Last updated Sep 4, 2025 8:00 PM ET

The Washington Wizards could finally reap the rewards of their patient team-building over the last five years.

The Washington Wizards have the unfortunate distinction of being one of the NBA’s least successful franchises. But perhaps years of underperforming and being in the lottery could now pay off.

This year, the Wizards continued to add both young talent and veteran presence to their roster. Before the NBA Draft, the Wizards traded Jordan Poole for CJ McCollum.

In the NBA Draft, the Wizards picked Tre Johnson, who looks like a very promising prospect. But there’s one move that made that has everyone in the NBA applauding their front office.

The Wizards landed Cam Whitmore from the Houston Rockets, adding a brilliant young star with limitless potential to their ranks.

Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

2025-26 Washington Wizards projected starting lineup

The Washington Wizards have a unique blend of young prospects and veteran presence. The hope is that the older stars can set the culture and help develop these prospects into future superstars.

This is what the 2025-26 Washington Wizards lineup is expected to look like:

Starting Lineup	Second Unit
CJ McCollum	Bub Carrington
Tre Johnson	AJ Johnson
Cam Whitmore	Corey Kispert
Bilal Coulibaly	Khris Middleton
Alexandre Sarr	Marvin Bagley III

The Wizards are likely to move Bub Carrington back to the bench after landing an experienced point guard like CJ McCollum, who can conduct the offense.

While Cam Whitmore might start the season on the bench, given his talent, it’s highly likely that he forces Wizards head coach Brian Keefe to put him in the lineup in place of Khris Middleton.

Washington Wizards have an incredible young core to build around

The Washington Wizards are quietly putting together a brilliant young core of players. Once they all develop into proper talent, these young stars could massively elevate the Wizards.

Bub Carrington, Tre Johnson, Cam Whitmore, Bilal Coulibaly, and Alexandre Sarr have the talent and potential to be a championship starting five if they all reach their fullest potential.

However, landing these young stars was the easy part. Now the Wizards need to make sure these young stars are given everything they need to develop the right way.

Talent development has been a struggle for the Wizards in years past. But with the quality of this core, they absolutely cannot afford to let things go wrong.

This article first appeared on NBA Analysis Network and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: