Washington is on a 14-game losing streak, the second longest in franchise history. But they are guaranteed to avoid being the worst team in NBA history
The Washington Wizards are a bad NBA team, no question about it. They were projected to be the worst team in the NBA according to many experts and bookies, and are living up to it. They are also on a 14-game losing streak, en route a 9-51 record, the worst in the Eastern Conference, though it’s just just half a game worse than the Detroit Pistons who held that title for most of the season.
Given how bad things look from a wins and losses standpoint, let’s see just how bad this losing streak is and if they are on track to be …. the worst team in NBA history.
The Wizards are currently on their second-longest losing streak in franchise history.
Washington’s aforementioned 14-game losing streak is long, no doubt. But it’s not the longest such streak in franchise history. The longest losing streak is 16 straight games from Mar. 3 to Mar. 31, 2010, according to Land of Basketball. That streak happened not long after Gilbert Arenas was suspended for bringing guns into the locker room, while Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler were traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Dallas Mavericks, respectively.
Given how the Wizards’ schedule looks ahead (at the Jazz tomorrow, vs. the Magic on Wednesday, vs. the Hornets on Friday, at the Heat on Sunday), there’s a good chance that this streak will be at least 17 games long.
The Wizards will likely finish with the worst season in franchise history.
Washington’s worst season in the 82-game era was in 2000-01 and 2008-09 when they had 19-63 records, or a 23.2 percent win rate. The official worst season was in 1961-62 when the Chicago Packers went 18-62.
At 9-51, the Wizards win only 15 percent of their games. If they win games at the same rate for the rest of the year, they will win about 13 games (12.7 to be exact). I don’t see the Wizards winning 10 or 11 more games this season.
The Wizards should be able to win one more game, however.
At 9-51, the Wizards should still be able to win at least one more game. Given today’s NBA, at least some of the league’s top teams will put their “B” rosters in when playing the Wizards when they know their playoff seed, so Washington should have a chance to win some more games. So I’m sure that they will have at least 10 regular season wins. And they do play the Pistons one more time as well.
The Wizards will not have the worst NBA season of all-time, even if they don’t win another game in 2023-24.
Of course, some of you guys are wondering just how bad this Wizards season will be if they don’t win again for this campaign.
If the Wizards don’t win again this season, they will have the NBA’s longest losing streak at 36 straight games with a 9-73 record. That ties the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers for the worst 82-game season. That is an 11 percent winning percentage.
But the Wizards, even this season, will be better than the 2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats, who were 7-59 (and won 10.6 percent of their games.)
We know. The bottom has fallen out this season with the Wizards and there hasn’t been much to root for. But this is also the first year of a long rebuild. The wins will come back eventually, and it will be just that much sweeter for the fans once the Wizards get there.