On Sunday afternoon, at the time that I am writing this, the NBA’s Eastern Conference has an unfathomable three teams who have won a single game apiece.
The Brooklyn Nets employ three, maybe three and a half,
actual NBA players and sit at 1-11. The Indiana Pacers, who were minutes away from winning a championship in June before Tyrese Haliburton tore his achilles tendon, are wading through an impossible 1-12 start to the season amid a scheduled off year.
And, of course, the Washington Wizards, whose best player on The Ringer’s NBA player rankings is 93rd-ranked CJ McCollum, have dropped ten straight games and sit tied with the Nets at 1-11.
Everyone knew the Eastern Conference was going to be weak heading into the season, but it is dispiriting just how weak the conference has turned out to be. The Wizards, Pacers, and Nets are all already dead and gone, and the woefully unserious Charlotte Hornets have already staked what is sure to be a season-long claim as the next-worst team. The rest of the conference is mired in mediocrity.
With the East crown there for the taking, only the 11-2 Detroit Pistons are more than four games above .500 a month into the season. Behind them are the only other two semi-serious teams in the conference, the 8-4 New York Knicks and the 9-5 Cleveland Cavaliers.
Between the Cavs and Hornets lies a mess of eight teams with records between 6-7 and 8-5, none of whom should realistically expect to win a playoff round this year (even though a few are gonna have to).
So, what does this mean for the Wizards going forward?
Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton coming back next season will not be nearly enough to lift this conference to a place of having to be taken seriously. In theory, then, five years out from their last playoff appearance, the Wizards should start thinking about playing competitive basketball again. But with just one win in twelve tries, it looks like it’s up to the lottery gods once again to dictate when the Wizards are allowed to play good ball.
