Washington looks to avoid the record books against Charlotte.
The Washington Wizards are hosting the Charlotte Hornets Friday night in an attempt to fight off the record books. The Wizards have lost 16 straight games, tying a franchise record, and Friday’s game presents an opportunity to avoid the negative attention inevitable with breaking such a record of futility.
The game against almost-but-not-quite-as-bad Charlotte is Washington’s best chance in the coming weeks to snap their losing streak. The Wizards’ next game against a comparably bad team after Charlotte will come 12 games from now against the Detroit Pistons on March 30. For those with a keen eye, this means the Wizards could potentially walk into that game with a league record-tying active 28-game losing streak — a record set by those very Pistons earlier this season. Talk about a compelling matchup.
The Hornets may be six games up on the Wizards standings-wise, but Charlotte boasts a disastrous -10.4 net rating, the worst in the NBA this season. For reference, this means that the average Hornets game is a double-digit loss.
The Hornets -10.4 net rating shocked me, and I was curious just how bad it stacks up against other historically awful NBA teams. According to StatMuse, while the 2023-24 Hornets chart among the worst NBA teams of all time net rating-wise, they look like a title contender compared to the worst of the worst, headlined by — wait for it — the 2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats. Those Bobcats are tied with the 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks for the worst net rating in a season ever at a filthy -15.2. At -10.1, your 2023-24 Washington Wizards are still well clear of the true cellars of NBA history.
Hornets at Wizards tips off at 7 p.m. EST Friday night at Capital One Arena.