So, the Washington Wizards have the worst record in the NBA this season at 1-12 (tied with the Indiana Pacers) after losing to the Brooklyn Nets last night. It isn’t that the Wizards lost to the Nets.
It’s also that the Nets had a then-identical 1-10 record as the Wizards yesterday. They also were humiliated on their home court by another bad team.
So you start seeing X posts like these where fans are laying out the pitchforks, demanding that Head Coach Brian Keefe be fired.
And furthermore, the players had one of those notable … players only meetings in the locker room. Josh Robbins of the Athletic reported this last night.
So, first, is Keefe’s job on the line? And should he lose his job?
First, there is no indication that Keefe is on thin ice. He was hired to lead a team that is built to lose games in the hopes that a franchise savior is drafted in a year or two or … five. In short, Monumental Basketball President Michael Winger and General Manager Will Dawkins are content with the Wizards tanking for awhile. Hell, Winger and Mystics General Manager Jamila Wideman even dismantled the Mystics right before the most critical offseason in WNBA history, and EVEN when there were three All-Stars on the team and they were in the playoff hunt.
Right now, Monumental Basketball’s philosophy is something to the effect of “we rebuild from the ground up by any means necessary.”
So in short, Keefe will NOT be fired because the Wizards are losing games, even to other bad teams. And since Keefe has some deeper connections with Monumental Basketball brass, he’ll be fine for a while.
So what are the reasons WHY Keefe would be fired in 2025-26?
Consider any notable HR scandal and its underlying causes. We’re talking about things like corporate stealing, being deeply involved in the NBA betting scandal (ex. Chauncey Billups’ days with the Portland Trail Blazers are definitely numbered) or office misconduct like harassment (ex. the NWSL firing and giving lifetime bans to several team coaches a few years ago). But again, there is no evidence of Keefe being accused of these things. So unless something crazy comes up, Keefe is staying this season, period.
Leading a bad team where management more or less wants the team to be bad in the standings is NOT going to get the coach fired in the short term.
At some point, Winger and Dawkins will have expectations for the Wizards to win more than … five games a year. Ted Leonsis will get impatient too. But until then, as Wizards fans, we’re in for a lot of Groundhog Days.
