The Washington Wizards started the season at a plucky 2-2. Perhaps that was pluckier than they intended. They proceeded to lose all 14 games they played in November, settling in the muck at a league-worst 2-16. This would be bleak new territory for most teams, but incredibly, this is not even the franchise's first winless month in the current calendar year. Last season's Wizards went 0-12 in February. That was part of a larger 16-game losing streak, tied for the worst in franchise history. Should the current Wizards lose three more games—and, given that the opponents are the Cavs, Mavs, and Nuggets, they might—they would claim that franchise record instead.
Another astonishing aspect is how uncompetitive the games themselves have been. The Wizards lost all 14 games in this streak by a margin of at least nine points, which had never been accomplished in NBA history. In 10 of those games, they were blown out by at least 15 points. The team is omni-directionally bad, with both the league's worst offensive rating and the worst defensive rating and, as such, the worst net rating, a gruesome minus-14.1.
There is no mystery to be unraveled here. Washington has the least talented roster in the league. Most NBA teams employ at least one or two players with the offensive juice to create decent looks against a set defense. The Wizards, piloted by a pair of overextended bozos, might have zero. Elder bozo Kyle Kuzma has been injured and subpar, though in fairness we concede that junior bozo Jordan Poole has been playing some of the most efficient and meaningless basketball of his career. The remaining minutes are sponged up by raw young players like Bilal Coulibaly, Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George, and this year's No. 2 draft pick, Alex Sarr. Surveying their entire roster, only Coulibaly, an eye-popping defender and slasher, is someone I would watch outside of a held-at-gunpoint context. Sarr has had some flashes as a shot-blocker, but also his true shooting is a hair below 46 percent despite his being 7 feet tall.
The situation in Washington is dire enough that The Athletic hung a piece on the question of whether young players could spiritually and developmentally survive basketball this hopeless. "The Wizards have guardrails in place," wrote Josh Robbins. "The basketball operations department tracks players’ individual progress in excruciating detail and, every 10- and 25-game period, meets with each player to see if he is fulfilling the goals that have been set for him." They are trying to build a "winning culture" in the absence of actual winning, it appears. Also poignant was this quote from Corey Kispert, the 25-year-old wing enduring his fourth season with Washington, the only franchise he has ever known: “It’s still really, really early, but to run into this much adversity early stinks—and stings."
For these war crimes against organized basketball, Washington hopes to be rewarded with Duke's Cooper Flagg, who likely will be the No. 1 selection in 2025, or Rutgers's Ace Bailey, who might offer them a bit more on-ball oomph, though this franchise is way too damaged to be drafting for fit. Flattened lottery odds were meant to disincentivize tanking this grotesque, but here we are, with a Wizards team that serves as a sort of confidence rehabilitation clinic for opposing players. During this losing streak they have conceded 32 points to Bam Adebayo, 18 points to Draymond Green, 39 points to Jaren Jackson Jr., 50 points to Victor Wembanyama, 26 points to Malik Beasley, 28 points to Jaden Ivey, 17 points to Cam Payne, and 43 points to James Harden—all season-highs for those guys.
Washington's best chances to break the streak are a pair of home games against the Hornets on Dec. 19 and 26. Wish them luck! I doubt they want it.
