The Washington Wizards have the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. They recently acquired Trae Young and Anthony Davis who will be around a young core that features Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly and the No. 1 pick. But let’s say that the Wizards are a team that players do NOT want to get traded to. In fact, when polled about the No. 1 team they wish they would NOT go to, the Wizards ranked No. 2. The Memphis Grizzlies were the runaway … winners with 35.8 percent of the vote of a 120 player survey.
You
can read more about it here by Sam Amick, Josh Robbins and Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
Despite the Wizards’ front office trying to rebuild the team from the ground up, it’s clear that Monumental Basketball President Michael Winger and Wizards General Manager Will Dawkins have work to do. Here are some hypothetical reasons why players wouldn’t want to be traded to the Wizards:
- The Wizards have a losing culture (until I hope the 2026-27 season) — Washington hasn’t won 50 games since 1978-79. They have gone through their worst three year losing stretch since Winger came to town. Even if the tear down WAS intentional, the end result is a team that loses and loses. We’re optimistic that that changes next season. But given the last few years, it’s harder to argue that Washington doesn’t have a losing culture.
- A player who gets traded to the Wizards is likely a stepping stone for someone or something else — Since Winger took over, there have been some notable players in Wizards uniforms like Jonas Valanciunas or CJ McCullom. But they were traded out when a pick became available. If you’re an existing NBA player and you get traded, you want to feel valued by the team who acquires you. Given Washington’s tank-at-all-costs philosophy over the last three years, if you’re a veteran or even a player in his mid 20s who gets traded to Washington, you already have a feeling that you’re only playing here for a few weeks to a season before Dawkins trades you again for something else. Players, even role players, want to feel valued for more than as a tuture trade chip.
- Political environment of DC — Well, there is always the perception that D.C. is about political drama.
Now, look. Do I honestly think that the Washington area is undesirable to live in or work in? No. But there are costs to the strategy the Wizards took since Winger and Dawkins took over. And here’s an excerpt of the Amick/Robbins/Vardon article on that:
The Wizards finishing second [in this survey] is not a surprise. The team has not won 50 games in a season or reached the Eastern Conference finals since 1978-79. Its 17-65 record as it tanked this season likely perpetuated the losing-franchise narrative.
Washington’s current front office has attempted to change perceptions over the last three years, investing heavily in basketball-operations staffing and franchise infrastructure and overseeing a long-overdue renovation of Capital One Arena, beginning with the home and visitors’ locker rooms.
Anthony Davis, who was traded to the Wizards in February, said during a news conference last month that outside views of the franchise are inaccurate.
“I can personally say now it’s not what people think or what people make it seem,” Davis said. “Yes, the losing is part of it, so people kind of tie that with the organization. But the organization within itself is totally different from what people think they’re seeing.”
Hopefully, the Wizards will be a team players want to play for (or get traded to) in the not-too-distant future.
