Wizards: the offseason so far
the record
The desk keeps a day-by-day record of everything that happens to the Washington Wizards: results with the players who decided them, injury changes, roster moves, reports, milestones and the schedule ahead. The story of the offseason is written from that record every week; the timeline below is the record itself, each line linked to the page that proves it.
The projection
all 30 teams →The season depends most on Jamir Watkins (3.6 wins without him), Justin Champagnie (2.3 wins without him) and Tre Johnson (0.7 wins without him): on/off from 2025-26, details under Injuries. Computed Thu, Sep 10; the method is on the methods page.
Day by day
the record starts with the first news of the seasonThe franchise today
Updated 2026-09-09Now
Brian Keefe opens his third season as head coach of a roster remade in the middle of last season by two trades. On January 7, 2026, Washington sent out CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert for all-star guard Trae Young, then on February 5 traded Khris Middleton and two first-round picks to the Mavericks for Anthony Davis. Both arrived hurt and did not suit up right away; Davis played 20 games last season, Young 15. The Wizards finished 2025-26 at 17-65, the second-worst record in franchise history, with the league's 29th-ranked offense and its worst, 30th-ranked defense. That finish carried the No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft, which Washington used on AJ Dybantsa. Around Davis and Young sits a young core that already logged real minutes: Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George, Bilal Coulibaly, Deandre Ayton and Tre Johnson. Payroll is $189.0 million against a $165.0 million cap, over the cap but under the $200.4 million tax line, with space before the $209.0 million first apron. Davis carries a $58.5 million salary and Young $49.5 million, with Dybantsa and Sarr next on the books. Washington owns its 2027 and 2029 first-round picks outright but owes New York its 2027 second, with swaps attached to both 2028 picks, the 2029 second and both 2030 picks.
Identity and rivalries
Washington plays fast right now, averaging 102.49 possessions a game last season, an approach that put shooting reps in front of a young roster still learning to finish games. The franchise's identity has always been tied to the city rather than to a single style: the Wizards took their name in 1997 in place of "Bullets," a change owner Abe Pollin made to get away from violent connotations, and the current logo sets a monument ball in a roundel with three stars for the District, Maryland and Virginia. The color scheme is red, white and blue, restored in 2011 to match the 1973-1987 Bullets teams and shared with the Capitals and the Nationals. On the floor, there is no rival that means much in the standings today; the closest thing still lives in memory, the run to a 49-33 record and the Southeast Division title in 2016-17, when Washington beat Atlanta in six games before losing a seven-game second-round series to Boston.
Home, owners and numbers
The Wizards play home games at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., the building they moved into for the 2017-18 season under its current name after previous stints as the MCI Center and Verizon Center. Ted Leonsis owns the team through Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the holding company he used to complete his takeover of the Wizards in June 2010 after buying the Capitals and Mystics from the Pollin family. In December 2023, Leonsis explored moving the Wizards and Capitals to a new arena in Alexandria, Virginia, but that plan collapsed in March 2024, and Washington mayor Muriel Bowser instead signed a deal with Leonsis to keep both teams in the District at least until 2050. Bill Russell's No. 6, retired by every NBA team on August 11, 2022, hangs in the arena alongside the numbers Washington has retired on its own.
What they are chasing
Right now Washington is chasing a way back to the playoffs, last reached in 2020-21 when the Wizards lost to Philadelphia in five games. Two more 60-loss seasons since then, including 2024-25's 18-64, are the hole the franchise is trying to climb out of. The bet is that a full season from Trae Young and Anthony Davis, paired with Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George, Bilal Coulibaly, Tre Johnson and the No. 1 pick, AJ Dybantsa, is enough to turn the corner. The open argument among fans is how much patience that takes: whether this young supporting cast develops fast enough to make the Davis-Young pairing worth what Washington gave up to build it.
Founded in 1961 as the Chicago Packers, the NBA's first expansion team, the franchise was renamed the Chicago Zephyrs the next season, moved to Baltimore in 1963 as the Baltimore Bullets, then relocated to the Washington, D.C. area in 1973, first as the Capital Bullets and then, in 1974, the Washington Bullets. The team rebranded as the Wizards in 1997. It plays at Capital One Arena in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., sharing the building with the Washington Capitals of the NHL and the Georgetown University men's basketball team. Ted Leonsis owns the club through Monumental Sports & Entertainment.
The franchise has reached the NBA Finals four times. Milwaukee, led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (known then as Lew Alcindor) and Oscar Robertson, swept the Bullets in 1971. The Al Attles-coached Golden State Warriors swept them again in 1975 after a 60–22 regular season, the best record in franchise history. In 1978 the Bullets beat the Seattle SuperSonics in seven games for the only championship in franchise history, Washington's first professional title in 36 years. They lost a rematch to Seattle in the 1979 Finals despite winning Game 1, 99–97, on two free throws. Overall the franchise has made 28 playoff appearances, won four conference titles (1971, 1975, 1978, 1979) and eight division titles (1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1979, 2017).
The defining era ran from the drafting of Earl Monroe (1967, second overall) through Wes Unseld (1968, second overall). Unseld won both Rookie of the Year and MVP in 1969, the only player in franchise history to do so, and later won Finals MVP in 1978. Walt Bellamy, Terry Dischinger, Monroe, and Unseld are the franchise's four Rookie of the Year winners; Bellamy's rookie season included 31.6 points and 19.0 rebounds per game. Elvin Hayes arrived from the Houston Rockets in 1972. In the 1971 Eastern Conference finals, with New York's Willis Reed injured, Gus Johnson's basket beat the Knicks 93–91 in Game 7 at Madison Square Garden, part of a run of playoff series against New York the Bullets otherwise lost repeatedly.
Later rosters carried their own marks: Manute Bol, drafted in 1985, set the team's single-season record with 397 blocked shots on a team that blocked 716; Moses Malone, acquired for Jeff Ruland, averaged 24.1 points a game alongside Jeff Malone's 22.0; Muggsy Bogues, taken 12th in 1987, remains the shortest player in NBA history at 5 feet 3 inches; Bernard King averaged 24.3 points in 1988–89 and, after knee surgery, 28.4 points in 1990–91, third in the league. Coach K.C. Jones was fired despite a 62 percent winning record with the team.
Home arenas trace the moves: the International Amphitheater and Chicago Coliseum in Chicago, the Baltimore Civic Center, a brief stay at Cole Field House, and the Capital Centre in Landover, which opened December 2, 1973, before Capital One Arena. In 1979 the Bullets became the first NBA team to visit China, beating the Bayi Rockets and Shanghai Sharks. Susan O'Malley, daughter of Peter O'Malley, became team president in 1990, the first woman to hold that role in NBA history. The phrase "It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings," from journalist Dan Cook, became the rallying cry of the 1978 title run and remains tied to the franchise's identity.