Wizards Can Blame One Thing for Recent Struggles

There is no hiding or denying it, the Washington Wizards have been one of the worst teams in the NBA for the past few seasons. Back-to-back seasons now where they have had one of the worst records in the league, no playoff appearance was in 2021, and now they are off to a 1-12 start in the 2025-26 season. Multiple things have gone awry for the Wizards to get this way. However, the answer to why they have been so bad may be evident and correct in front of our eyes, and no one has noticed until recently.

There are a few ways rebuilding teams can find themselves winning again. One route is to trade for players who can develop over a season or two. Another is to go out in free agency and make offers players cannot refuse. The final option, and the route the Wizards are going down, is tanking and getting top draft picks. The problem is that this has really only worked in one season.

In 2024, they had the best odds at the first overall pick at 14 percent. They landed the second overall pick, so it is not like they dropped far. The team took Alex Sarr, who struggled in his rookie season but now, in his second year with the team, looks like an All-Star. Will Dawkins was also able to select Kyshawn George 24th overall, and he made a trade with the New York Knicks to acquire him.

Wizards Miss Top Draft Picks

Every other year of tanking, though, has been a disaster. 2023 is an example of this, as the team had a 6.7 percent chance to get the first overall pick, and the headline in this class was Victor Wembanyama. The team tried tanking, but ended up winning more games than they would have liked. Washington still had Bradley Beal, Deni Avdija and Kristaps Porzingis on this team. If the team had gotten rid of one of these players earlier, before the season, they could have jumped in on the odds to obtain Wembanyama.

The real disappointment, though, came in the recent 2025 draft class. Washington was tied for the best odds at Cooper Flagg and first overall with a 14 percent chance at the first pick of the draft. They, however, dropped all the way to sixth overall, taking Tre Johnson. Johnson still looks like a great pick, but getting a top-three pick really would have changed things in the DMV. The real kicker, though, is who jumped into the top three. The Dallas Mavericks received the first overall pick, despite having only a 1.8 percent chance of landing it. The San Antonio Spurs had a 6% chance and then jumped to second overall. Finally, the Philadelphia 76ers had a 10.5 percent chance and jumped to third overall.