Wizards Bring Up Rear in Preseason Power Rankings

But for basketball publications tasked with ranking every team's outlook through the 2025-26 season alone, there isn't much to suggest that the WizKids will be leapfrogging anyone. The Wizards came in dead last in ESPN's final preseason power ranking, an unsurprising mark to give on the day before they're set to tip off.

Immediate Depth Concerns

This is a team lacking pretty much any current high-end contributors at any position of need, attempting to develop their guard room, wing depth and center rotation all at the same time.

TIm Bontempts identified "the lack of proven point guards or bigs" as the biggest challenge that this roster will have to overcome.

"The quickest way to lose games in the NBA is to have uneven point guard play or interior defense," he wrote. "And, with such a young roster, Washington is likely to have both. As a result, expect this to be another long season for the Wizards."

Alex Sarr is expected to resume his starting center responsibilities, where he'll continue attmepting to improve as a finisher and decision-maker while maintaining some of that historic defense that made him an All-Rookie First-Teamer.

He's at his best with a capable guard to feed him on the roll and help him flourish as an interior play-finisher, but the Wizards aren't deep at that position either.

CJ McCollum is the backcourt's most polished option, and that's no slight to the consistent 20-point per game scorer. He's just not expected to be in Washington long, playing on an expiring contract that the Wizards will likely attempt to trade for assets midseason, leaving unseasoned and contact-averse prospects Bub Carrington and Tre Johnson to learn how to swim on the fly.

Turning Inexperience Into Strength

Bontemps sees their strength as the unpredictability they'll likely play with, as the near-dozen prospects will each attempt to continue carving out their respective NBA niches. "It almost certainly won't translate to wins, but this is going to be a fun team. The Wizards should play fast and use their athleticism to create easy shots in transition -- if their defense can create the turnovers to get out and run."

Washington's management has repeatedly stressed their focus on promoting competition this season, given the sheer amount of pieces who feel that they're deserving of playing time on a team without any upcoming, team-centric winning expectations.

They've compiled plenty of long athletes with defensive instincts and offensive promise, and though their collective upside isn't expected to take many games on its own, they can very easily prove themselves as a troublesome and energetic nightly matchup.