It’s been a long time since the Washington Wizards charmed or enchanted anyone with their play.
Frankly, even the last couple of years that saw Bradley Beal rocking the red, white and blue were subpar. To be fair, asking him to take over for John Wall was a tall task. After all, the former No. 1 pick was on his way to the Hall of Fame before his injuries. Nonetheless, their collapse after their last three seasons with Beal ending without a playoff berth was deafening.
What makes the NBA magical though is that any franchise can change course. For the Wizards, that means no more dwelling in despair. After parting ways with Beal in 2023, they’ve been rebuilding, trying to find the leader that will make them one of the East’s elite teams.
All of this leaves them with three burning questions as they head into the 2025-26 season.
3 Burning Questions For Wizards Heading Into 2025-26 Season
Who Will Separate Themselves?
In no particular order, these Wizards players are generally considered the most promising: 2025 No. 6 pick Tre Johnson; 2024 No. 2 pick Alex Sarr; 2024 No. 14 pick Bub Carrington; 2024 No. 23 pick AJ Johnson; 2024 No. 24 pick Kyshawn George; 2023 No. 7 pick Bilal Coulibaly; and 2023 No. 20 pick Cam Whitmore. The oldest player in that group is George, at 21 years old (and 233 days). Everyone except for A. Johnson and Whitmore were drafted by Washington.
Give credit where it’s due. If the Wizards’ plan is to build organically, which is ideal with a restrictive CBA, then they’re on the right path. Nevertheless, the team’s ceiling will be determined by how close the aforementioned players can get to reaching their individual ones.
Last season, Sarr led the charge for the neophytes. After a disastrous Summer League showing, he averaged 13.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.5 blocks and 0.7 steals per contest, coming in fourth of the Rookie of the Year award race. Coulibaly was their only player 21 years old or younger with a double-digit scoring average (12.3 points per game). With that being said, T. Johnson may emerge as their most promising offensive player after averaging 19.9 points per game as a one-and-done at Texas.
What Does Khris Middleton Have Left?
At first, Kyle Kuzma was poised to be the team’s veteran leader, coming into his own after being traded by the Los Angeles Lakers. Eventually, Jordan Poole usurped him, and not only because he performed better in 2024-25. Though Kuzma initially enjoyed the chance to evolve his game without playing in a high pressure situation, he wasn’t a fan of taking a step back so that his young teammates’ could shine.
This led to Kuzma, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and two second-round picks being traded in a four-team deal that landed the Wizards the combination of A. Johnson, the draft rights to Mathias Lessort, Khris Middleton, a future first-round pick.
A. Johnson’s post-transaction performance was a pleasant surprise. While with the Bucks, he was averaging just 2.9 points and 1.0 assist per game, playing sparingly. With the Wizards, he averaged 9.1 points and 3.1 assists in 27.0 minutes per game per game.
However, the best player in the trade was Middleton. Like Kuzma and Poole, the 33-year-old came to Washington as an NBA champion. Unlike them, he’s also earned three All-Star selections. Thus, he’s more decorated than even Beal.
The issue is that he’s suffered several injuries, some of which have seemed to sap pockets of athleticism. As a result, he’s averaged 14.1 points per game over the past three seasons though he averaged 19.9 points per game the three previous seasons. As the Wizards aren’t exactly vying for the NBA title, there’s no real pressure for Middleton to play at a high level. Still, his trajectory is worth monitoring.
Who To Pick In The 2026 NBA Draft?
The 2025 NBA Draft, in which Washington selected the trio of T. Johnson, Will Riley and Jamir Watkins, just ended.
For a team like Washington, it’s not too early to look at the next one though. Over the past two seasons, they’ve won 33 games combined. Their 2025-26 campaign is unlikely to lead to many more victories than they were able to scrape their way to in 2023-24 and 2024-25, when they couldn’t even break the 20-win barrier.
Keeping that in mind, teams in their position usually draft with the best player available approach. Though this philosophy isn’t as one-size fits-all as it’s described at times, it’s smart for a team that hasn’t drafted a bonafide All-Star yet. As a result, the 2026 NBA Draft prospects that should intrigue the Wizards the most are the ones that everyone is looking at: Kansas commit Darryn Peterson, BYU commit AJ Dybantsa, and Duke commit Cameron Boozer.
Among those players, it’s pretty difficult to determine who has the highest ceiling. However, the best positional fit is Boozer, a do-it-all combo forward that would fit in cleanly with their current core.
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