RSS Wizards Team Notes

[Washington Wizards]

If You Blinked, You Missed Little: Wizards-Pelicans Was a Grind

If you found your eyes glazing over and your thoughts wandering to the Stranger Things finale during last nights Pelicans at Wizards matchup, join the crowd. These are two of the worst teams in basketball — the Wizards intentionally, the Pelicans by accident — and they spent much of the night demonstrating why.

The teams combined for 36 turnovers (19 by the Wizards) and probably another dozen bad passes that didn’t become turnovers by sheer luck. New Orleans’ second half offensive surge was more due to Washington’s defensive mishaps. It’s fair to say that in this game, the less incompetent team won.

It was an inauspicious beginning to the Trae Young Era, who watched in street clothes from the bench in his first game as a member of the Washington Wizards franchise. The Monumental broadcast was in peak educational form, informing viewers of Young’s absolutely amazing, superlative, colossal leadership skills, and cited things like working on special handshakes with teammates, sitting in the middle of the bench instead of the end, combing his hair, and wearing a beige suit.

I may have made the last two up — I was switching back and forth between the Pelicans and Wizards feeds throughout the game. New Orleans analyst Antonio Daniels is still very good, but Joel Meyers has lost a step or three on the play-by-play.

Both Meyers and Daniels mispronounced Tristan Vukcevich’s name — it’s not VOOK-then a long pause-SEVich, it’s Vooksevich kinda run all together. Like how the Wizards’ public address announcer said the name at least a dozen times during last night’s game. Meyers also misidentified players several times and got names wrong a few more.

It was a rough night to watch.

With CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert departed and Young not ready to play, the Wizards returned to tank mode. Last night, they replaced Marvin Bagley III — who’d been playing well — with Vukcevic, who has not. Somewhat amusingly, it was the starters who contributed most to the tank. The Wizards were +10 in Vukcevic’s minutes.

The Pelicans got big output from their starting front court.

• Trey Murhpy III scored 35 points on 24 shots to go with 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals.
• Zion Williamson scored 31 points on 12-14 shooting. The Wizards could do nothing to contend with his size and strength.
• Rookie Derik Queen posted the second triple-double of his career — 14 points, 16 rebounds, 12 assists.

Thougths & Observations​

• Kyshawn George returned to action after missing a few games with a strained hip flexor. He shot decently but committed three turnovers and four fouls in 24 minutes.
• As I watched the game, it kinda felt like Khris Middleton was having a quiet but decent performance. I remembered the made shots and the assist. Then I looked at the stat sheet and realized I’d memory-holed the misses and turnovers.
• Alex Sarr was ineffective on both ends — solidly outplayed by whoever was in the middle for New Orleans. The game underscored some areas where the 20-year-old will need to progress — maintaining mental focus and getting stronger.
• In the “Weird Comments from Broadcasters” category, there was Meyers noting in the second half that Tre Johnson had made 2-5 from three-point range, “…but I really like his stroke…” as if 2-5 (40%) was somehow bad.
• The Wizards tried to deploy Coulibaly on Williamson. He’s been able to shut down or chip away at the efficiency of bigger and smaller players alike, but Williamson has a unique blend of speed and power. Once Williamson decided to attack (about 7 minutes into the game), he scored at will. At one point in the first quarter, he had a 9-0 run on the Wizards.
• Despite blowing a few layups in the first half, Justin Champagnie played well. Again. He had 12 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists. His night included three third-quarter dunks.
• By the numbers, AJ Johnson had his best game of the season — 6 points, 6 rebounds. I wouldn’t make too big a deal of it — the rebounds were a lot about the ball just bouncing his way.
• Malaki Branham hit a couple threes.
• Former Wizards great Jordan Poole played 12 minutes and got booed every time he touched the ball. The boos didn’t make much sense to me, but the full Poole experience was on display — strange decisions, bizarre shots (and he took only two!), three turnovers, and four fouls. How bad has Poole been for New Orleans? On the Pelicans’ broadcast, Daniels praised Poole for getting out of the way so Williamson would have room to drive.
• At one point in the third quarter, Sarr drove into the lane, spun on his left shoulder and hit a nifty jump hook. On the Pelicans broadcast, Daniels pointed out that Sarr used that exact move in pre-game warmup work. He said many players do different things in warmups than they do in games, but that Sarr’s pre-game routine focuses on the shots he uses in the game.

Four Factors​

Below are the four factors that decide wins and losses in basketball — shooting (efg), rebounding (offensive rebounds), ball handling (turnovers), fouling (free throws made).

The four factors are measured by:

• eFG% (effective field goal percentage, which accounts for the three-point shot)
• OREB% (offensive rebound percentage)
• TOV% (turnover percentage — turnovers divided by possessions)
• FTM/FGA (free throws made divided by field goal attempts)

FOUR FACTORS	PELICANS	WIZARDS	LGAVG
eFG%	59.5%	48.9%	54.4%
OREB%	25.6%	21.2%	26.2%
TOV%	15.6%	17.4%	12.8%
FTM/FGA	0.158	0.253	0.213
PACE	109	99.8
ORTG	117	98	115.7

Stats & Metrics​

PPA is my overall production metric, which credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, playmaking, defending) and dings them for things that hurt (missed shots, turnovers, bad defense, fouls).

PPA is a per possession metric designed for larger data sets. In small sample sizes, the numbers can get weird. In PPA, 100 is average, higher is better and replacement level is 45. For a single game, replacement level isn’t much use, and I reiterate the caution about small samples sometimes producing weird results.

POSS is the number of possessions each player was on the floor in this game.

ORTG = offensive rating, which is points produced per individual possessions x 100. League average so far this season is 115.1. Points produced is not the same as points scored. It includes the value of assists and offensive rebounds, as well as sharing credit when receiving an assist.

USG = offensive usage rate. Average is 20%.

ORTG and USG are versions of stats created by former Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver and modified by me. ORTG is an efficiency measure that accounts for the value of shooting, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers. USG includes shooting from the floor and free throw line, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers.

+PTS = “Plus Points” is a measure of the points gained or lost by each player based on their efficiency in this game compared to league average efficiency on the same number of possessions. A player with an offensive rating (points produced per possession x 100) of 100 who uses 20 possessions would produce 20 points. If the league average efficiency is 114, the league — on average — would produced 22.8 points in the same 20 possessions. So, the player in this hypothetical would have a +PTS score of -2.8.

Players are sorted by total production in the game.

WIZARDS	MIN	POSS	ORTG	USG	+PTS	PPA	+/-
Malaki Branham	24	54	175	10.4%	3.3	183	14
Justin Champagnie	22	49	121	22.1%	0.6	148	-5
Tre Johnson	25	57	117	16.8%	0.1	93	-29
Bub Carrington	29	65	100	16.2%	-1.6	73	-1
AJ Johnson	16	36	99	17.5%	-1.0	113	3
Kyshawn George	24	54	98	25.9%	-2.5	69	-15
Tristan Vukcevich	23	52	85	35.1%	-5.5	32	10
Bilal Coulibaly	30	67	90	15.3%	-2.7	7	-26
Alex Sarr	25	57	87	27.9%	-4.6	-21	-31
Khris Middleton	21	48	47	15.9%	-5.2	-68	-24
Anthony Gill	3	6	0.0%	0.0	0	-1

PELICANS	MIN	POSS	ORTG	USG	+PTS	PPA	+/-
Trey Murphy III	36	82	143	26.2%	5.8	339	32
Zion Williamson	29	66	154	27.1%	6.8	270	22
Derik Queen	35	79	113	24.2%	-0.6	158	18
Jeremiah Fears	32	73	105	26.5%	-2.0	150	20
Jordan Hawkins	20	46	108	13.7%	-0.5	122	-2
Yves Missis	13	29	91	19.5%	-1.4	79	3
Karlo Matkovic	5	12	124	14.3%	0.1	154	-4
Micah Peavy	28	63	108	11.1%	-0.5	2	5
Bryce McGowens	29	65	99	8.7%	-1.0	-15	18
Jordan Poole	12	27	13	17.9%	-4.9	-331	-6
Trey Alexander	2	4	0.0%	0.0	0	-1

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...ou-missed-little-wizards-pelicans-was-a-grind

 

[Washington Wizards]

Wizards at Suns final score: Washington falls, 112-93

In the first contest of a four-game road trip, the Washington Wizards lost on Sunday to the Phoenix Suns, 112-93.

Alex Sarr scored nine points and added five rebounds in the opening frame as the Wizards trailed 32-28.

With Trae Young still sidelined with a quad and MCL injury, Washington’s lack of a point guard again showed with 11 first-half turnovers, many of them unforced.

Sarr’s production continued into the second frame, this time on the defensive end. He blocked Devin Booker twice in as many possessions, the second swat springing Bilal Coulibaly on the fastbreak for an easy dunk.

Phoenix led 65-50 at halftime behind 13 points from Booker and 18 team assists.

It was more of the same in the second half. Sarr added a few buckets and continued his strong showing on the glass, while the Suns dominated nearly every aspect of the contest to grow a 29-point advantage entering the final quarter.

Tre Johnson was another bright spot for the Wizards in an otherwise lackluster performance. The rookie drilled shots from 3-point range, mid-range and with his floater game en route to 19 points on an efficient 8-for-15 shooting. It marked his 13th game scoring in double figures in his last 14 appearances.

Despite Sarr’s and Johnson’s standout showings, Phoenix continued its dominance in the fourth frame to earn a 112-93 victory.

Sarr finished with 19 points and matched a career high with 15 rebounds. Coulibaly added 12 points as the Wizards fell to 10-28.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...s-at-suns-final-score-washington-falls-112-93

 

[Washington Wizards]

Three Quarters of a Blowout: Suns Dominate, Wizards Dress It Up Late

For three quarters, the Phoenix Suns administered lessons on playing hard as a cohesive unit, at the end of which the Washington Wizards trailed by 29 points. Then the Suns slacked off a bit and the Wizards trimmed the final margin to a semi-respectable 19.

For a second straight game, the Wizards offense was a disorganized mess. They ran up and down the floor, attempted nutty passes with little chance for success, and flung the ball at the rim whenever the urge struck — regardless of normally considered factors such as whether the team had run an offensive action, the relative position of defenders, and the relative openness of teammates.

It was a fascinating contrast: the Suns routinely screening for teammates, making hard and timely cuts, and moving the ball to open teammates — using coordinated teamwork to get good shots, while the Wizards seemed to be playing games of one-on-three.

This is not to let the team’s defense off the hook. The final numbers (a 110 defensive rating — 5.5 points better than league average) might lead an observer to believe the Wizards defense was pretty good. Don’t be fooled. Through three quarters, the defensive rating was 123.

With the game out of reach, the Suns took their foot off the proverbial gas pedal and the Wizards had a 64 defensive rating. That result was very much a case of Phoenix missing open looks and throwing the ball away than it was Washington affirmatively playing well.

A few examples from the numbers? So glad you asked. Through three quarters, the Suns had six turnovers. In the fourth quarter, they committed seven. For the game, Phoenix shot 17-52 — just 32.7% — from three-point range. In the first three quarters, it was 16-41 (39.0%). With a little math, we can see they shot just 1-11 from deep in the final period.

Thoughts & Observations​

• Washington’s defensive plan was to load up on Suns star Devin Booker. Bilal Coulibaly and help defenders limited Booker to 5-14 shooting and left other Suns open and wide-open shots. Booker had a personal best six first-quarter assists, and finished the game with eight.
• During a stoppage at the 8:13 mark of the first quarter, Phoenix analyst Eddie Johnson said, “It’s pretty obvious the Suns will get whatever they want on offense. The key is not settling for bad shots.”
• A truly rare event occurred during last night’s game: Dillon Brooks drove into the lane and “created space” by ramming his forearm into Khris Middleton and shoving him back. It was (properly) called an offensive foul.
• Brooks, by the way, has very little offensive game when he drives if refs don’t let him commit offensive fouls with that off arm. He was unable to get past any of Washington’s perimeter defenders (including Middleton). I wasn’t entirely sure getting past a defender was even a goal. I guess, why would it be if he can just dribble into the lane, shove a defender out of his way, and then take a shot?
• In my notebook, I had several entries with some combination of “Kyshawn George” and “sloppy.” He had five first-half turnovers, and they were all either sloppy passes (risky, pointless, inaccurate) or poor ball security. He needs to learn to value possessions.
• By the way, the Suns had four turnovers in the first half.
• Phoenix’s Ryan Dunn had a highlight reel put-back dunk because when the shot went up, Tre Johnson and Will Riley watched the ball in flight instead of blocking out.
• Bub Carrington keeps throwing lobs that make no sense. He’s surprising teammates who (correctly) believe they’re well defended, and the passes themselves are off target.
• While the above note is about Carrington, in fairness he’s not the only Wizards player tossing up nonsensical lob attempts. Alley-oops are cool and everything, but perhaps the team could benefit by focusing on making plays that increase the team’s odds of scoring.
• Another notebook entry: “Kyshawn looks thoroughly overwhelmed. Tried to pressure Grayson Allen, who just drove by him. Got ripped by Allen.”
• For a couple minutes in the second quarter, the Wizards played some real defense on Booker.
  • 3:14 — Coulibaly WOW block on Booker
  • 2:14 — Alex Sarr got switched onto Booker, who drove. Sarr made an impressive recovery block
  • 1:46 — Sarr ended up on Booker again. Booker drove, pump faked under the basket, and then got his shot swallowed by Sarr.
• I was fairly impressed with Booker’s response to Washington’s defensive attention. He kept making the right passes. While he didn’t always get the assist, he empowered his teammates to make plays.
• Sarr was good in the losing effort — 19 points, 15 rebounds, 3 blocks. While his 105 offensive rating was more than 10 points below league average, it was 15 points better than the combined offensive rating of his teammates last night.
• Weird stat line of the night: Suns guard Collin Gillespie had a 92 PPA while shooting 0-6 from the floor. He did it with six rebounds, five assists, four steals and zero turnovers.

Four Factors​

Below are the four factors that decide wins and losses in basketball — shooting (efg), rebounding (offensive rebounds), ball handling (turnovers), fouling (free throws made).

The four factors are measured by:

• eFG% (effective field goal percentage, which accounts for the three-point shot)
• OREB% (offensive rebound percentage)
• TOV% (turnover percentage — turnovers divided by possessions)
• FTM/FGA (free throws made divided by field goal attempts)

FOUR FACTORS	WIZARDS	SUNS	LGAVG
eFG%	43.6%	51.1%	54.3%
OREB%	25.0%	28.8%	26.2%
TOV%	21.7%	13.8%	12.8%
FTM/FGA	0.209	0.158	0.212
PACE	101	99.8
ORTG	92	110	115.6

Stats & Metrics​

PPA is my overall production metric, which credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, playmaking, defending) and dings them for things that hurt (missed shots, turnovers, bad defense, fouls).

PPA is a per possession metric designed for larger data sets. In small sample sizes, the numbers can get weird. In PPA, 100 is average, higher is better and replacement level is 45. For a single game, replacement level isn’t much use, and I reiterate the caution about small samples sometimes producing weird results.

POSS is the number of possessions each player was on the floor in this game.

ORTG = offensive rating, which is points produced per individual possessions x 100. League average so far this season is 115.1. Points produced is not the same as points scored. It includes the value of assists and offensive rebounds, as well as sharing credit when receiving an assist.

USG = offensive usage rate. Average is 20%.

ORTG and USG are versions of stats created by former Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver and modified by me. ORTG is an efficiency measure that accounts for the value of shooting, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers. USG includes shooting from the floor and free throw line, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers.

+PTS = “Plus Points” is a measure of the points gained or lost by each player based on their efficiency in this game compared to league average efficiency on the same number of possessions. A player with an offensive rating (points produced per possession x 100) of 100 who uses 20 possessions would produce 20 points. If the league average efficiency is 114, the league — on average — would produced 22.8 points in the same 20 possessions. So, the player in this hypothetical would have a +PTS score of -2.8.

Players are sorted by total production in the game.

WIZARDS	MIN	POSS	ORTG	USG	+PTS	PPA	+/-
Bub Carrington	32	68	156	10.6%	2.9	145	-17
Alex Sarr	28	59	105	26.7%	-1.7	158	-10
Tre Johnson	30	64	117	21.7%	0.1	125	-16
Bilal Coulibaly	28	60	121	14.4%	0.5	111	-13
Will Riley	19	41	128	19.6%	1.0	154	-15
Justin Champagnie	21	45	112	15.0%	-0.2	95	-18
Marvin Bagley III	16	34	69	21.2%	-3.3	17	-16
Khris Middleton	18	39	54	24.0%	-5.7	-120	-5
AJ Johnson	10	21	17	33.0%	-6.7	-327	0
Kyshawn George	26	56	42	25.6%	-10.4	-157	-1
Tristan Vukcevich	4	9	113	33.0%	-0.1	209	7
Malaki Branham	4	9	0.0%	0.0	136	7
Anthony Gill	1	2	0.0%	0.0	0	2

SUNS	MIN	POSS	ORTG	USG	+PTS	PPA	+/-
Royce O’Neale	25	54	142	22.5%	3.1	299	18
Mark Williams	22	47	186	12.7%	4.2	239	10
Grayson Allen	24	50	121	18.2%	0.5	210	17
Oso Ighodaro	20	43	139	17.0%	1.7	232	11
Ryan Dunn	19	41	139	17.5%	1.7	226	8
Devin Booker	26	55	119	28.2%	0.6	162	16
Collin Gillespie	29	62	78	11.3%	-2.6	92	14
Dillon Brooks	24	50	97	26.2%	-2.5	34	10
Rasheer Fleming	13	27	50	25.3%	-4.6	-107	1
Jordan Goodwin	22	47	43	25.7%	-8.7	-148	2
Isaiah Livers	7	14	234	17.0%	2.8	484	-2
Nigel Hayes-Davis	3	7	210	13.3%	0.9	328	-5
Khaman Maluach	5	11	0	15.0%	-1.9	-231	-5

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...lowout-suns-dominate-wizards-dress-it-up-late

 

[Washington Wizards]

Wizards at Suns discussion

The Washington Wizards play the Phoenix Suns at 8 p.m. tonight. Watch the game on Monumental Sports Network.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/washington-wizards-gamethreads/67433/wizards-at-suns-discussion

 

[Washington Wizards]

Wizards Check-Up: Better and More Competitive But Still Bad

With two days off between games, it’s time for a Washington Wizards checkup. After a 5-2 binge (7-5 over a 12-game stretch), their record stands at 10-28. That’s the fourth worst winning percentage in the league, and more or less in line with what the oddsmakers thought — preseason over/under lines pegged them as a 20-win team.

My own expectations were worse. I estimated them to win 15 games, which a) is theoretically possible, and b) would mean a brutal second half of the season.

Advanced stat indicators of team strength have improved during this winning stretch, though they’re still indicative of the league’s weakest team. Barring a painful reversion to earlier form, they have likely ended the possibility of being the worst team (single season) in league history.

With 10 wins, they’re already out of history danger territory in terms of record and winning percentage. The 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers managed just nine wins with 10 victories. If they lose every remaining game, they’d have a 12.2% winning percentage, which would still be slightly better than the 10.6% posted by the 2011=12 Charlotte Bobcats So they have that going for them.

Over that 7-5 run, the team posted an offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) of 114.8 (about a point below league average) and a defensive rating of 115.8 (right at league average). That’s some genuine improvement, and it’s a long enough stretch to think it marks some real improvement. This is not to say they’ve become a league average team — but rather that they’re probably better than “worst ever” and Wizards fans can have real reason to hope the team might become decent-to-good in the future.

Better measures of team strength are related to score — scoring margin, efficiency margin, or strength of schedule adjusted scoring margin. For the season, the Wizards adjusted scoring margin is a league worst -10.6. That’s nearly two points per 100 possessions better than their adjusted scoring margin a month ago. They currently sit at 13th worst all-time, which is better than the third worst they posted last season.

We’ll just not talk about the last three games.

The Measuring Stick​

Here’s where the Wizards currently rank in the various key stats of team strength (where they ranked at the last update, which was Dec. 11, is in parentheses):

• Offensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions): 27 (28)
• Defensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions): 29 (29)

The above should not be understood to mean that the Wizards have not played better the past few weeks. They have been better. It does underscore how bad they were before they improved — even much better for nearly a third of the season barely nudges them in the league rankings.

Offensive Four Factors​

• eFG%: 21 (19)
• Offensive Rebounding Percentage: 20 (24)
• Turnover Rate: 26 (30)
• Free Throws Made/Field Goal Attempts: 26 (28)

Since the last update, the Wizards shot about the same and improved in each of the other factors. The most important of these is turnover rate — doing a better job of turning possessions into scoring opportunities.

Defensive Four Factors​

• eFG%: 23 (25)
• Defensive Rebounding Percentage: 30 (30)
• Turnover Rate: 28 (29)
• Free Throws Made/Field Goal Attempts: 15 (14)

The numbers indicate the Wizards have done a better job in the most important factor of NBA defense — making the other team miss. While their defensive rebounding rank didn’t change, the raw number did improve. Previously, they were last by such a wide margin that they could remain last even while getting better.

The Wizards don’t force opponent turnovers. This is partly a reflection of their poor perimeter defense, and partly of their emphasis the past few weeks on trying to limit at-rim attempts.

Player Production Average​

Below is a table with updated results from the Player Production Average (PPA) metric so far this season. PPA is an overall rating metric I developed that credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, play-making, defending) and debits them for things that hurt the cause (missed shots, turnovers, fouls, ineffective defense). PPA is similar to other linear weight rating metrics such as John Hollinger’s PER, David Berri’s Wins Produced, Kevin Pelton’s VORP, and the granddaddy of them all, Dave Heeren’s TENDEX.

PPA weighs a player’s performance per possession against that of his competitors season by season. While PPA falls into the category of a linear weight metric, the values for statistical categories float a bit season-to-season based on league performance.

PPA is pace neutral, accounts for defense, and includes a “degree of difficulty” factor based on the level of competition a player faces while on the floor. Beginning with the 2019-20 season, I added a position/role adjustment designed to reflect how roles and on-court positioning affect individual abilities to produce certain stats.

Inputs include:

• on-court team defensive rating
• points
• rebounds (offensive and defensive weighed differently)
• assists
• steals
• blocks
• shot attempts
• turnovers
• personal fouls
• starts
• minutes

In the table below, I’ve included each player’s PPA last time, currently (through games played Jan. 7 — game 36), as well as games played and minutes per game. The Garbage Time Brigade has their own section.

In the table below, LAST = the player’s PPA when I last published an update, which was Jan. 11, 2025.

PLAYER	GAMES	MPG	LAST	PPA
Alex Sarr	27	29.7	146	157
Marvin Bagley III	31	19.3	98	108
Justin Champagnie	34	17.4	97	99
Kyshawn George	27	31.9	90	89
Khris Middleton	24	24.4	85	83
Bilal Coulibaly	22	27.1	59	83
Tre Johnson	29	23.9	50	79
Cam Whitmore	21	16.9	49	49
Bub Carrington	36	27.2	23	47
Tristan Vukcevic	27	11.4	46	43
Will Riley	29	12.6	37	43
Malaki Branham	20	9.3	44	42
AJ Johnson	19	6.4	-28	-7
DEPARTED	GAMES	MPG	LAST	PPA
CJ McCollum	35	30.9	115	121
Corey Kispert	19	19.5	83	78
GTB	GAMES	MPG	PPA	PPA
Anthony Gill	15	4.4	48	56
Jamir Watkins	14	11.6	23	37
Sharife Cooper	4	2.5	-66	-66

A few thoughts:

• Alex Sarr — despite a few bad games during this stretch — significantly improved his PPA score. He’s having a very good season for an NBA player. That he’s doing it at age 20 in his second season is highly encouraging.
• Marvin Bagley III has given Washington competent play in the middle when Sarr goes to the bench. He’s not the defender Sarr is, but he adds rebounding and provides offensive punch as a roller, finisher, and offensive rebounder. I anticipate the Wizards will trade him to a contending team that needs a good backup big (or possibly even a starter) and would not be shocked to see him return to DC as a free agent in the offseason.
• Justin Champagnie should be starting.
• Bilal Coulibaly is healthy and playing better. He played 10 games during this update period, and his full-season PPA went from 59 to 83. He’s still a project on offense, but his process is improving (I’ve written about it in postgame articles) and he’s a very good defender who typically guards the opponents top offensive threat regardless of position.
• One of the biggest improvers is the 19-year-old Tre Johnson, who’s a lethal shooter adding (unveiling?) offensive repertoire as defenses react. I’d love to see him be more attentive on defense and do some more non-scoring work, but he’s doing great for a teenage rookie.
• Bub Carrington is another youngster playing better. His PPA poked its nose above the replacement level line in this update — marked improvement from how he played through the teams first couple dozen games.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...-up-better-and-more-competitive-but-still-bad

 

[Washington Wizards]

Wizards at Clippers preview: Washington continues road trip in LA on Wednesday

The Washington Wizards play the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night. Let’s get to the preview.

Game info​

When: Wednesday, Jan. 14 at 10:30 p.m. ET

Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, CA

How to watch: Monumental Sports Network

Injuries: For the Wizards, Cam Whitmore (shoulder) and Trae Young (quadriceps) are out.

For the Clippers, Bogdan Bogdanovic is doubtful, while Derrick Jones (knee) and Bradley Beal (hip) are out.

What to watch for​

The Wizards are now continuing their road trip where we either have to set alarm clocks and/or stay up real late. Spoiler alert: it’s often both.

Washington is looking to get their first win on this long west coast road trip while the Clippers are looking to extend their winning streak to four games after beating three consecutive Eastern Conference teams. LA is currently 16-23, 11th in the Western Conference, but still in striking distance of a playoff-in berth and perhaps even a playoff spot if things play out right.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...wizards-los-angeles-clippers-nba-game-preview

 

[Washington Wizards]

Report: Wizards’ Trae Young sidelined through All-Star break

Washington Wizards guard Trae Young, who is recovering from a right knee MCL sprain and a right quad contusion, will be re-evaluated after the mid-February All-Star break, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

New Washington Wizards star Trae Young is still recovering from MCL and quad injuries on the same leg and will be re-evaluated after the mid-February All-Star break, sources tell ESPN. The Wizards are taking a cautious approach with the injuries to their new trade acquisition.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 14, 2026

Young has yet to appear for the Wizards since they acquired him from the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 7 in exchange for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert. He will at least miss the Wizards’ next 15 games as they keep their protected pick in mind.

Washington’s 2026 first-round pick is top-8 protected, which means they must finish inside the NBA’s bottom four records to guarantee they keep their selection. They currently own the league’s fourth-worst record — a key reason behind their cautious approach with Young’s injuries.

While the Wizards’ newly acquired point guard had missed five games with a quad contusion even before the trade, Atlanta hadn’t listed his MCL sprain on his injury designation since he returned on Dec. 18. That hasn’t been the case for the Wizards, who listed both his MCL sprain and quad contusion before contests with the New Orleans Pelicans, Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers.

Yes, the Wizards are being “cautious” with Young’s injuries. But it’s important to note they are doing so with their protected pick at the forefront of their decision.

Young has appeared in just 10 games this season. Wizards fans will have to wait a bit longer to see him play his 11th, which will mark his first in a Washington uniform.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...s-trae-young-sidelined-through-all-star-break

 

[Washington Wizards]

Wizards at Clippers: Washington drops road game in Los Angeles, 119-105

The Washington Wizards were unable to keep pace with the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday in a 119-105 affair at Intuit Dome.

The plan to raise Khris Middleton’s trade value was in full effect to open the contest. He started the game firing with the Wizards’ first seven points to get his team ahead 7-2 early — the only juncture Washington would hold a lead the rest of the way. The Clippers closed the quarter on a 17-7 run to take a 37-22 advantage after one.

The second quarter was not kind to the Wizards, both in terms of the scoreboard and player availability. Bilal Coulibaly did not play in the period and was later ruled out with lower back tightness. Alex Sarr was ejected from the contest after getting hit with his second technical foul.

Sarr got tossed for bouncing the ball high into the air in frustration over a foul called against him. The undermanned Wizards trailed 70-51 at the half.

The play that got Alex Sarr his second technical and first ejection of his career pic.twitter.com/NqzvabiW9r

— SleeperWizards (@SleeperWizards) January 15, 2026

The Wizards stormed all the way back in the third quarter thanks to Kyshawn George, who led the charge with 12 of his 23 points in the period. He flashed his development as an on-ball creator with a trio of midrange jumpers off the dribble and also got to the line a couple of times.

Ky is cookin'

He's got 19 points so far tonight pic.twitter.com/6YDSvKOXpl

— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) January 15, 2026

Washington got the game to within one at the 1:54 mark of the third quarter after Tristan Vukcevic hit a three-pointer to cut LA’s advantage down to 89-88. The Wizards’ comeback train ran out of steam after that, as the Clippers built their double-digit lead back up for good early in the fourth quarter.

George’s 23 points led the way for Washington in the scoring department. Middleton added 17 points, while Vukcevic and Will Riley came off the bench to add 10 and 12 points, respectively. With Sarr out for more than half the game, Marvin Bagley tallied 15 points and 11 rebounds.

The Wizards next head to Sacramento on Thursday to take on the Kings.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...ington-drops-road-game-in-los-angeles-119-105

 

[Washington Wizards]

Wizards Ejected from Los Angeles with Fourth Straight Loss

The competitive portion of this game seemed to end early. The Wizards fell behind by as much as 24 points in the first half, trailed by 19 at the midpoint, and then staged a furious third-quarter comeback to get as close as 89-88 late in the third quarter. At that point, the Los Angeles Clipper reasserted their superiority, the Wizards offense cratered and LA coasted to a comfortable 119-105 win.

The game was marred by an absurd ejection of Alex Sarr. He was called for a foul and slammed the ball hard enough for it to bounce above his head. For some reason, at some point in NBA history, this was adjudged to be an egregious insult to referees. Sarr got slapped with a technical foul for this apparently horrific act, after having previously received another tech (possibly for saying something in “French”) — and was sent to the locker room.

The whole thing was dumb on several levels. I think any reasonable observer would think Sarr’s “slamming” of the ball was an expression of general frustration — he was not playing well and he didn’t seem to be arguing the foul call itself. That a player bouncing the ball over his head while by himself and not saying anything to the refs or another player would be hit with a technical…dumb.

One cool thing: when Sarr went to the locker room, Team Dad Anthony Gill went with him to make sure he’d be okay.

In terms of actual game play, Kyshawn George had a strong game overall. Like most NBA players over the past decade, he could do little to slow Kawhi Leonard.

Leonard scored 33 points, which included shooting 7-11 from three-point range. Hopefully, the Wizards staff will cut together some instructional videos for the younger players showing Leonard’s surgical approach to attacking the Wizards. He repeatedly identified weaker help defenders, and then attacked those areas — even when his primary defender remained engaged. He exploited switches ruthlessly.

Defensively, Leonard moves far less than he did in his youth but remains a superior defender. Last night, he got four steals — basically hoovering up any inaccurate or sloppy passes in his vicinity.

Perhaps as an addendum to the Leonard-based instructional video, staff could include some clips of Harden’s world-class grifting. He got Sarr early with a classic — going into a shot the moment Sarr put his hand out, creating contact and drawing a foul.

Now on a four-game losing streak, the feel-good winning binge is solidly in the rear-view mirror.

Thoughts & Observations​

• Bilal Coulibaly lasted just under 10 minutes before leaving the game with what’s described as “lower back tightness.” Hopefully, it’s nothing that will keep him out of action. He’s played better since returning from his previous injury, and he needs the offensive reps.
• Strong game from George — 23 points on 15 shots, 5 rebounds, 4 assists. He was ineffective defending Leonard, but that’s pretty normal for all NBA players.
• Bub Carrington shot 1-11 from the floor and missed all six of his three-point attempts. He’s made 11 of his last 42 over the past seven games — a bit of a cooling off after a hot start. His average for the season is still above 40%.
• Someone needs to give the Wizards a late first round pick for Marvin Bagley III. Given more minutes because of the ridiculous Sarr ejection, he posted 15 points on 7-11 shooting, and 11 rebounds (5 offensive). In a game the Wizards lost by 14, the team was +4 in Bagley’s 27 minutes.
• When I wrote earlier the Wizards offense “cratered” in the fourth quarter, well…it wasn’t Vredefort Crater level, but it was big. Their offensive rating in the period: 64. They shot just 7-22 — 31.8%. They missed all eight of their three-point attempts. And they committed four turnovers. Ouch.
• Before his preposterous ejection, the Clippers shot just 5-13 when NBA tracking identified Sarr as the defender.
• The Clippers had one of those “veteran-laden team wins efficiently” kind of games. They made all 27 of their free throw attempts, shot decently, grabbed just seven offensive rebounds, and committed just eight turnovers. They got nine steals — mostly by being in the right place at the right time.
• For at least one game, Yanic Konan Niederhauser’s on-court play was as much fun as his name. He got minutes mainly because of injuries to Ivica Zubac and John Collins, and he’s been replacement level in his limited playing time this season, but he’s athletic and energetic and fun to watch.

Four Factors​

Below are the four factors that decide wins and losses in basketball — shooting (efg), rebounding (offensive rebounds), ball handling (turnovers), fouling (free throws made).

The four factors are measured by:

• eFG% (effective field goal percentage, which accounts for the three-point shot)
• OREB% (offensive rebound percentage)
• TOV% (turnover percentage — turnovers divided by possessions)
• FTM/FGA (free throws made divided by field goal attempts)

FOUR FACTORS	WIZARDS	CLIPPERS	LGAVG
eFG%	51.1%	55.4%	54.4%
OREB%	25.0%	18.9%	26.2%
TOV%	11.6%	8.4%	12.8%
FTM/FGA	0.144	0.325	0.212
PACE	95	99.7
ORTG	110	125	115.7

Stats & Metrics​

PPA is my overall production metric, which credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, playmaking, defending) and dings them for things that hurt (missed shots, turnovers, bad defense, fouls).

PPA is a per possession metric designed for larger data sets. In small sample sizes, the numbers can get weird. In PPA, 100 is average, higher is better and replacement level is 45. For a single game, replacement level isn’t much use, and I reiterate the caution about small samples sometimes producing weird results.

POSS is the number of possessions each player was on the floor in this game.

ORTG = offensive rating, which is points produced per individual possessions x 100. League average so far this season is 115.1. Points produced is not the same as points scored. It includes the value of assists and offensive rebounds, as well as sharing credit when receiving an assist.

USG = offensive usage rate. Average is 20%.

ORTG and USG are versions of stats created by former Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver and modified by me. ORTG is an efficiency measure that accounts for the value of shooting, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers. USG includes shooting from the floor and free throw line, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers.

+PTS = “Plus Points” is a measure of the points gained or lost by each player based on their efficiency in this game compared to league average efficiency on the same number of possessions. A player with an offensive rating (points produced per possession x 100) of 100 who uses 20 possessions would produce 20 points. If the league average efficiency is 114, the league — on average — would produced 22.8 points in the same 20 possessions. So, the player in this hypothetical would have a +PTS score of -2.8.

Players are sorted by total production in the game.

WIZARDS	MIN	POSS	ORTG	USG	+PTS	PPA	+/-
Kyshawn George	32	64	147	21.9%	4.4	173	5
Marvin Bagley III	27	53	143	20.9%	3.0	181	4
Khris Middleton	27	54	116	25.4%	0.0	106	4
Will Riley	27	54	119	16.4%	0.3	90	-12
Justin Champagnie	27	53	107	13.7%	-0.6	77	-22
Tristan Vukcevich	8	15	145	40.6%	1.8	239	-12
Bilal Coulibaly	10	19	213	6.2%	1.2	121	-11
Tre Johnson	27	54	92	18.9%	-2.4	13	4
AJ Johnson	3	7	0	22.5%	-1.7	-257	-6
Alex Sarr	13	26	55	29.3%	-4.7	-89	-6
Bub Carrington	33	65	70	18.6%	-5.5	-37	1
Malaki Branham	4	8	62	12.5%	-0.5	140	-7
Anthony Gill	1	2	0.0%	0.0	0	-2

CLIPPERS	MIN	POSS	ORTG	USG	+PTS	PPA	+/-
Kawhi Leonard	30	60	130	38.8%	3.3	306	7
Jordan Miller	34	67	116	16.8%	0.0	164	21
Yanic Konan Niederhauser	23	45	156	20.7%	3.8	188	14
Kris Dunn	23	46	219	5.5%	2.6	172	-8
James Harden	37	73	112	31.1%	-0.8	107	1
Nicolas Batum	26	52	105	12.6%	-0.7	90	26
Brook Lopez	21	42	113	23.1%	-0.2	107	-5
Kobe Sanders	26	51	128	14.8%	0.9	82	-3
Cam Christie	21	41	117	5.9%	0.0	33	17

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...ed-from-los-angeles-with-fourth-straight-loss

 

[Washington Wizards]

Wizards at Kings preview: Washington heads to Sacramento on Friday

The Washington Wizards play the Sacramento Kings on Friday night. Let’s get to the preview.

Game info​

When: Friday, Jan. 16 at 10 p.m. ET

Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, CA

How to watch: Monumental Sports Network

Injuries: For the Wizards, Cam Whitmore (shoulder) and Trae Young (quadriceps) are out.

For the Kings, Domantas Sabonis (knee) and Keegan Murray (ankle) are out.

What to watch for​

The Wizards are continuing their long western conference road trip where we have to stay up late at night. Remember right during the new years when Washington seemed to be turning things around? Now, they’re back on a four game losing streak. Of the teams on this road trip, the Kings appear to be the … “easiest” team to beat because they are just 11-30 so far this season, basically neck-and-neck with the Wizards in the standings.

Now, here’s the thing. Sacramento is heading into tomorrow’s game on a three game winning streak while on a homestand which includes wins against the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks. So could Washington be the team to spoil things? We shall see!

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...ton-wizards-sacramento-kings-nba-game-preview

 

[Washington Wizards]

Cam Whitmore out for season with venous condition

Washington Wizards forward Cam Whitmore has started the recovery process for a diagnosed venous condition and will miss the remainder of the 2025-26 season, the team announced Thursday.

Whitmore hadn’t played since a blood clot was found in his right shoulder in early December. He was later diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis.

Washington Wizards guard/forward Cam Whitmore has started the recovery process for a diagnosed venous condition and will miss the remainder of the 2025-26 season. The team will provide additional updates as appropriate.

— Wizards PR (@WizPRStats) January 15, 2026

Washington acquired Whitmore from the Houston Rockets in July. The 6-foot-7 forward averaged 9.2 points and 2.8 rebounds per game across 21 appearances this season.

The Villanova product is extension eligible this offseason, with an October deadline to strike a possible deal with the Wizards. Washington already exercised his team option for the 2026-27 season, which pays him $5.5 million.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...whitmore-out-for-season-with-venous-condition

 

[Washington Wizards]

Wizards at Nuggets preview: Washington looks to avoid sixth straight loss

The Washington Wizards play the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night. Let’s get to it

Game info​

When: Saturday, Jan. 17 at 9 p.m. ET

Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, CA

How to watch: Monumental Sports Network

Injuries: For the Wizards, Cam Whitmore (shoulder), Bilal Coulibaly (back) and Trae Young (quadriceps) are out. Khris Middleton and Tristan Vukcevic are day-to-day.

For the Nuggets, Christian Braun (ankle), Nikola Jokic (knee), Jonas Valanciunas (calf), Cameron Johnson (knee) and Tamar Bates (foot) are out. Aaron Gordon, Bruce Bowen and Jamal Murray are day-to-day.

What to watch for​

This week has been tough for Wizards fans since the team is in the middle of a five game losing streak with no end in sight. Losing last night/early this morning to the Sacramento Kings doesn’t help things because that was the most winnable game on paper.

Tonight, Washington will play a Denver team that is 28-13 and winners of five out of their last six games — and all of those games being decided by single digits. Franchise player Nikola Jokic and numerous others are out. But it will still be an uphill battle to get an upset on the second end of a back-to-back while the Nuggets have rested since last Wednesday when they beat the Dallas Mavericks, 118-109 on the road.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...ngton-wizards-denver-nuggets-nba-game-preview

 

[Washington Wizards]

Wizards Lose But Still Can Say, “At Least We’re Not The Kings”

The best thing about the Sacramento Kings is that the Wizards can say, “At least we’re not the Sacramento Kings.”

Yes, the Kings beat the Wizards, 128-115 last night. It was their 12th victory of the year — just two more than the Wizards. But Sacramento has been bad while also being the league’s third oldest team (weighted for minutes). The Wizards at bad and young, which means they can still peddle hope. The Kings don’t even have that.

The Kings have no hope of being good with their current roster. They need to sell off their veterans for young players and draft picks. Their challenge is similar to where Washington was when Michael Winger and Will Dawkins took the helm — the older guys are pretty good with limitations and flaws, but their contracts are out of line with their production.

Their biggest challenge is the poor leadership of their owner Vivek Ranadive, which is something that likely won’t be rectified until he sells the team.

The game itself was at least somewhat entertaining. The Kings went on a 19-0 run to close the first quarter with a 19-point advantage. The teams played more or less even the rest of the way — the Wizards closing the gap to under five points a couple times in the second half. Each time, Sacramento responded with a run of their own to expand the margin.

It’s hard to overstate how bad Washington’s defense was in this one. The Kings entered the game with the league’s second worst offense, and with a generous helping of open and wide-open shots, posted a 128 offensive rating (points per possession x 100). That’s 18 points above their season average, and more than 12 points above league average.

The Kings achieved this absurd efficiency despite committing 18 turnovers and shooting just 19-30 on free throws. They connected on 15-31 (48.4%) from three-point range and posted an effective field goal percentage of 67.3%.

Russell Westbrook, a career 30.8% three-point shooter, shot 6-9 from deep, which boosted his three-point percentage this season to 35.7%.

Overall, the Wizards got decent production from their starting group (missing Khris Middleton and Bilal Coulibaly). Their bench — with the exception of Malaki Branham, who played probably the best game of his career — was a disaster.

Thoughts & Observations​

• Credit to head coach Brian Keefe for some tank-tastic lineup choices. For several (disastrous) minutes, he had a group out there that include AJ Johnson, Will Riley, Jamir Watkins, and Marvin Bagley III. I think the fifth was Bub Carrington. That grouping meant they had no one who could threaten the defense or lead an effective offense.
• The Wizards were -22 in Johnson’s 11 minutes of action.
• They were -19 in 22 minutes with Riley on the floor.
• Carrington played 38 minutes and took just four shots, but was still productive overall with 9 assists and 2 steals.
• Carrington has an odd mix of attributes. He’s 6-4 and rebounds at a level that suggests good size, strength, athleticism and competitiveness. He defends like a small, slow, weak guy — bigger players score at will when he defends in the post, quicker players drive with little resistance, his closeout are ineffective. He rarely drives, generates paint touches or gets shots at the rim, but is still an above-average playmaker. He’s shot well from deep, but has been astonishingly bad converting the few inside shots he gets.
• While I liked seeing Justin Champagnie in the starting lineup, and his overall production was decent, I thought his defensive work was subpar — especially early in the game.

Four Factors​

Below are the four factors that decide wins and losses in basketball — shooting (efg), rebounding (offensive rebounds), ball handling (turnovers), fouling (free throws made).

The four factors are measured by:

• eFG% (effective field goal percentage, which accounts for the three-point shot)
• OREB% (offensive rebound percentage)
• TOV% (turnover percentage — turnovers divided by possessions)
• FTM/FGA (free throws made divided by field goal attempts)

FOUR FACTORS	WIZARDS	KINGS	LGAVG
eFG%	55.0%	67.3%	54.4%
OREB%	17.5%	30.8%	26.2%
TOV%	11.0%	18.0%	12.8%
FTM/FGA	0.178	0.235	0.212
PACE	100	99.7
ORTG	115	128	115.7

Stats & Metrics​

PPA is my overall production metric, which credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, playmaking, defending) and dings them for things that hurt (missed shots, turnovers, bad defense, fouls).

PPA is a per possession metric designed for larger data sets. In small sample sizes, the numbers can get weird. In PPA, 100 is average, higher is better and replacement level is 45. For a single game, replacement level isn’t much use, and I reiterate the caution about small samples sometimes producing weird results.

POSS is the number of possessions each player was on the floor in this game.

ORTG = offensive rating, which is points produced per individual possessions x 100. League average so far this season is 115.1. Points produced is not the same as points scored. It includes the value of assists and offensive rebounds, as well as sharing credit when receiving an assist.

USG = offensive usage rate. Average is 20%.

ORTG and USG are versions of stats created by former Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver and modified by me. ORTG is an efficiency measure that accounts for the value of shooting, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers. USG includes shooting from the floor and free throw line, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers.

+PTS = “Plus Points” is a measure of the points gained or lost by each player based on their efficiency in this game compared to league average efficiency on the same number of possessions. A player with an offensive rating (points produced per possession x 100) of 100 who uses 20 possessions would produce 20 points. If the league average efficiency is 114, the league — on average — would produced 22.8 points in the same 20 possessions. So, the player in this hypothetical would have a +PTS score of -2.8.

Players are sorted by total production in the game.

WIZARDS	MIN	POSS	ORTG	USG	+PTS	PPA	+/-
Bub Carrington	39	81	158	11.9%	4.0	123	2
Tre Johnson	30	62	109	24.9%	-1.0	121	-1
Kyshawn George	24	50	131	24.4%	1.9	146	-12
Alex Sarr	28	58	128	25.0%	1.7	123	-5
Justin Champagnie	27	56	149	17.4%	3.2	119	-12
Malaki Branham	13	28	145	25.6%	2.1	240	11
Marvin Bagley III	19	40	110	19.8%	-0.4	13	-8
AJ Johnson	11	24	63	25.2%	-3.2	-9	-22
Jamir Watkins	26	55	67	14.5%	-3.8	-25	0
Will Riley	22	46	68	19.5%	-4.3	-64	-18
Anthony Gill	1	2	0	34.7%	-0.9	-318	0

KINGS	MIN	POSS	ORTG	USG	+PTS	PPA	+/-
Russell Westbrook	31	65	145	25.4%	4.8	240	0
Precious Achiuwa	28	57	171	15.3%	4.8	212	-2
Zach LaVine	32	67	136	15.1%	2.0	128	10
Dennis Schroder	20	42	156	23.5%	3.9	203	12
Nique Clifford	19	39	135	18.6%	1.4	173	19
Domantas Sabonis	21	44	116	26.0%	0.0	126	14
Dylan Cardwell	19	39	149	14.2%	1.9	109	23
Maxime Raynaud	22	45	101	15.7%	-1.1	89	-7
DeMar DeRozan	33	68	111	21.0%	-0.7	51	-7
Malik Monk	16	33	60	27.0%	-4.9	-103	3

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...but-still-can-say-at-least-were-not-the-kings

 

[Washington Wizards]

Wizards at Nuggets final score: Washington loses final game of road trip, 121-115

The Washington Wizards lost to the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night, 121-115.

Washington began the first half with a slim 63-62 lead with Khris Middleton and Alex Sarr scoring in double figures and after getting out a first quarter rut. Washington also out-rebounded Denver 23-17 which proved key to the lead. The Wizards continued to outrebound the Nuggets in the third quarter though there wasn’t much movement to the lead though Washington still led.

But like many other Wizards games this season, the talent disparity ultimately went against Washington’s favor when it was the fourth quarter. Tim Hardaway and Jamal Murray scored 31 of the Nuggets’ 38 points in the period while the Wizards only scored 29, though Kyshawn George scored 14 of his team leading 29 points then.

While Washington kept things interesting for much of the game thanks to their 48-38 rebounding advantage, they still allowed Denver to shoot 52.9 percent from the field while only shooting 45.8 percent themselves.

The Wizards’ road trip is now complete but they still have more western conference opponents to play. Their next game is at home against the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday. Tip off is at 3 p.m. ET. See you then.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...4/washington-wizards-denver-nuggets-nba-recap

 

[Washington Wizards]

Wizards vs Clippers Preview: Washington hosts LA at Home on MLK Day

Game Info​

When: Monday, January 19 at 3:00 p.m. ET

How to watch: Monumental Sports Network, League Pass

Where: Capital One Arena, Washington, DC

Injury Report​

Clippers: Kawhi Leonard – Questionable (Ankle), Bogdan Bogdanovic – Out (Hamstring), Derrick Jones Jr. – Out (Knee), Bradley Beal – Out (Hip)

Wizards: Tristan Vukcevic – Out (Knee), Bilal Coulibaly – Out (Back), Cam Whitmore – Out (Shoulder), Trae Young – Out (Knee)

Pregame notes​

The Washington Wizards come back home after a 3-game road trip against Western Conference foes, that did not yield a win. Now they will try their luck at home against another Western Conference foe, the Los Angeles Clippers.

If you have been watching the NBA season this year, you are probably familiar with how much the Clippers struggled to start the season. Their struggles have been well-documented, but do not let that fool you, this team has played much better basketball as of late. They have won 14 out of their last 16 games, including a win over the Wizards in Los Angeles this past Wednesday. They have been sparked by the play of their two stars, Kawhi Leonard and James Harden.

On the other side, the Wizards have lost six straight games coming into this one. Maybe this is according to plan as the team just a few weeks ago had won six of 10 games and looked poised to possibility play out of their position to guarantee top-8 pick in the draft. Make no mistake about it, this team’s young players will continue to play hard and we will continue to see progress, but Monday’s matchup looks tough going against one of the hottest teams in the league.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...wizards-los-angeles-clippers-nba-game-preview

 

[Washington Wizards]

Wizards Get Rebuilding Loss to the Denver Nuggets

Last night’s loss to the Denver Nuggets felt more like “rebuilding” than “tanking.” The Wizards played a flawed game loaded with mistakes and miscues, and were competitive throughout, carrying a small lead into the fourth quarter and forcing fourth quarter heroics from Jamal Murray and Tim Hardaway Jr. to ultimately lose.

Facing a team devoid of centers (Nikola Jokic and former Wizards great Jonas Valanciunas were both out with injuries), Washington dominated inside — +10 on the boards, 27-4 advantage on second chance points, and outscoring Denver 66-50 in the paint.

They lost because of an array of defensive breakdowns, and some elite shotmaking from Murray.

A few notes I took during the game:

• Denver won the opening tip and seconds later, Jalen Pickett walked into a wide open three. What happened? The Wizards didn’t match up properly. Two defenders were on Peyton Watson, and Tre Johnson (who was the closest defender) watched instead of sprinting into a closeout.
• In the first half, Wizards defenders repeatedly sagged into the lane off Murray. While the team’s defensive priority is protecting the paint, there is no way — none — that leaving Murray undefended in the corner was part of the defensive game plan. They stopped helping off him in the second half.
• Washington’s transition defense was poor for a few reasons. First, not sprinting back. Second, not matching up in ways that make sense. Third, ball watching and failing to notice opposing players positioning themselves for shots.
  • One Nuggets fast break got a transition corner three from Hardaway. Jamir Watkins got back but ball watched — failing to notice Hardaway running behind him to the corner. Watkins first noticed Hardaway when the ball swung to the man above the break, who Watkins picked up. When the pass went to the corner, Watkins sprinted to close out but was too late. Meanwhile, Marvin Bagley III and Justin Champagnie jogged back to the defensive end and never got involved in the play.
  • In the second quarter, Champagnie missed a three. While he watched the ball in flight, Bruce Brown (who’d closed out) ran to the offensive end. Bagley, Bub Carrington, and Tre Johnson all jogged back, but all three stopped out top and none of them noticed Brown behind them.
  • In the third quarter, Khris Middleton stopped playing to complain about a foul non-call. Meanwhile, his man got a wide open corner three in transition, which he (fortunately for Washington) missed.
• The Wizards defensive scheme uses some of the “pre-helping” concepts pioneered by the Oklahoma City Thunder and being used by more teams around the league. Basically, the weakside “low man” comes halfway into the lane to be in position to help if there’s a drive. It’s generally a good method of complicating penetration and reducing the number and quality of opponent at-rim attempts. The drawback can be giving up open threes.
  • One play made me laugh: Middleton was low man. He pre-helped on a Murray drive against Alex Sarr, who’d picked him up on a switch. Middleton came all the way across the lane and was (theoretically) in position to cut Murray off. Unfortunately, Middleton’s lack of mobility meant that Murray still got all the way to the rim — he made a nice pass to Spencer Jones, who’d made a cut behind the help…which Carrington (who had weakside zone responsibility) missed because he was ball watching.

I know the preceding is a recitation of woes, but this game wasn’t bad. They were competitive in ways they should have been based on who was missing from the opponent’s lineup. They made mistakes early on and corrected them during the game. The scheme they’re trying to execute is good. What I noticed as problems are pretty normal for young players and are correctable with experience and acceptance of coaching.

Thoughts & Observations​

• Champagnie does a nice job of cutting to the rim when his man moves into a help position or turns his head.
• Strong offensive game from George — an efficient 29 points to go with 5 rebounds and 7 assists. He was credited with three blocks, though I do not think he played well defensively — he’s guilty of ball watching, leaving his man to help when it’s not necessary, and not matching up properly.
• Murray was the first guard in several weeks (at least) to figure out a counter to Sarr’s chase down blocks when driving the switch. Instead of a more normal extension into a layup, Murray jumped straight up as he laid the ball in. Sarr crashed into him and it became a three-point play.
• Sarr did as well as any big man could be expected when switched onto Murray. He prevented penetration a couple timed, forced Murray into difficult shots at others, and even poked the ball loose once.
• Bagley had another strong game off the bench. I’m curious to see Sarr and Bagley play together.
• With Bilal Coulibaly out, the Wizards had no strong point of attack defender.
• Abysmal game from Tre Johnson, who hit just 1-10 from the floor and missed all four of his three-point attempts. I didn’t love his shot selection, which was heavy on runners and floaters, which tend to be low value shots. The one he made was runner.
• Aaron Gordon was two points from a triple-double. Filling in a center, he tallied 11 assists, including one pass that was Jokic-light — he caught the ball in the post and instantly spun and hit a shooter in the opposite corner — literally behind his head. There was no way he could see the man before he went into the pass. I call it “Jokic-light” because Jokic would have made the same pass but no-look.
• Peyton Watson has been on a scoring binge with Jokic out. He has an impressive package of skills and the ability to make shots. His offensive efficiency would have gotten a solid boost if he’d shot better than 4-8 from the free throw line.

Four Factors​

Below are the four factors that decide wins and losses in basketball — shooting (efg), rebounding (offensive rebounds), ball handling (turnovers), fouling (free throws made).

The four factors are measured by:

• eFG% (effective field goal percentage, which accounts for the three-point shot)
• OREB% (offensive rebound percentage)
• TOV% (turnover percentage — turnovers divided by possessions)
• FTM/FGA (free throws made divided by field goal attempts)

FOUR FACTORS	WIZARDS	NUGGETS	LGAVG
eFG%	51.6%	61.2%	54.4%
OREB%	33.3%	11.4%	26.2%
TOV%	10.9%	11.8%	12.8%
FTM/FGA	0.167	0.200	0.211
PACE	101	99.7
ORTG	114	119	115.7

Stats & Metrics​

PPA is my overall production metric, which credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, playmaking, defending) and dings them for things that hurt (missed shots, turnovers, bad defense, fouls).

PPA is a per possession metric designed for larger data sets. In small sample sizes, the numbers can get weird. In PPA, 100 is average, higher is better and replacement level is 45. For a single game, replacement level isn’t much use, and I reiterate the caution about small samples sometimes producing weird results.

POSS is the number of possessions each player was on the floor in this game.

ORTG = offensive rating, which is points produced per individual possessions x 100. League average so far this season is 115.1. Points produced is not the same as points scored. It includes the value of assists and offensive rebounds, as well as sharing credit when receiving an assist.

USG = offensive usage rate. Average is 20%.

ORTG and USG are versions of stats created by former Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver and modified by me. ORTG is an efficiency measure that accounts for the value of shooting, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers. USG includes shooting from the floor and free throw line, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers.

+PTS = “Plus Points” is a measure of the points gained or lost by each player based on their efficiency in this game compared to league average efficiency on the same number of possessions. A player with an offensive rating (points produced per possession x 100) of 100 who uses 20 possessions would produce 20 points. If the league average efficiency is 114, the league — on average — would produced 22.8 points in the same 20 possessions. So, the player in this hypothetical would have a +PTS score of -2.8.

Players are sorted by total production in the game.

WIZARDS	MIN	POSS	ORTG	USG	+PTS	PPA	+/-
Kyshawn George	32	67	145	28.9%	5.8	243	-6
Justin Champagnie	26	55	112	20.3%	-0.4	152	1
Marvin Bagley III	20	42	144	24.8%	2.9	200	2
Khris Middleton	27	57	131	22.1%	1.9	136	-9
Jamir Watkins	21	44	193	4.9%	1.7	96	3
Will Riley	16	34	97	18.7%	-1.2	62	1
Bub Carrington	39	82	86	18.5%	-4.5	20	-6
Alex Sarr	28	60	102	24.0%	-2.0	15	-8
Tre Johnson	31	65	52	14.5%	-6.0	-78	-8

NUGGETS	MIN	POSS	ORTG	USG	+PTS	PPA	+/-
Jamal Murray	39	83	128	36.1%	3.8	272	5
Tim Hardaway Jr.	36	75	131	25.0%	2.9	150	0
Aaron Gordon	32	68	119	16.8%	0.4	125	14
Spencer Jones	29	61	180	6.1%	2.4	90	-6
Jalen Pickett	22	47	107	15.3%	-0.6	112	8
Peyton Watson	35	74	106	23.7%	-1.7	64	5
Zeke Nnaji	16	34	125	11.8%	0.4	81	-8
Julian Strawther	6	12	0	6.5%	-0.9	2	2
Bruce Brown	25	52	84	14.3%	-2.4	-35	10

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...rds-get-rebuilding-loss-to-the-denver-nuggets

 

[Washington Wizards]

Wizards vs Clippers Recap: Washington loses to LA on Monday, 110-106

Wizards lose their seventh straight game.

Those pesky young Wizards fought in this game. This is despite the dominance of James Harden. As the game went on, the Wizards decided to double team Harden to get the ball out of his hands more. Harden did a great job of moving the ball to the open man and making the Wizards pay for it.

The Wizards countered by making the oldest team in the league do what any young team should do, make them play in transition more. This adjustment helped the Wizards to get out of the gates in the 2nd half with a 10-point lead. That lead would soon evaporate as the Wizards could not keep up the momentum.

Washington’s Achilles’ heel in this game was turnovers. 19 turnovers for the game, especially the ‘live ball’ turnovers killed the Wizards’ momentum at points in this game. Clippers got 21 points off of turnovers and also won the battle of points in the paint, 60-38. Those two issues stopped the Wizards from having a chance in this one.

Wizards lose this one 110-106. Next up, they will host the Denver Nuggets at Capital One Arena on Thursday evening.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...ards-lose-a-close-one-to-the-clippers-110-106

 

[Washington Wizards]

Wizards vs Clippers Discussion

The Washington Wizards play the Los Angeles Clippers at 3:00 p.m. today at Capital One Arena. Watch the game on Monumental Sports Network.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/washington-wizards-gamethreads/67584/wizards-vs-clippers-discussion

 

[Washington Wizards]

Zion Williamson could be a possible stretch target for the Wizards, according to report

January 2026 has been a shock for the Washington Wizards. Early in the month, there was speculation that then-Atlanta Hawks guard Trey Young may be a target for Washington and that Young preferred the Wizards. In a matter of days, Young got traded to the Wizards for a relatively low price asset-wise: Corey Kispert and CJ McCollum. So using that line of thinking, a recent piece by Joshua Robbins of The Athletic indicates that New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson could also be a target for Washington considering how quickly the Wizards acquired Young.

The Pelicans, at least on the record, do not intend to trade him. But considering his injury history despite his talent, if the Wizards offer some compensation their way, it’s possible that the Pelicans could listen. Here is an excerpt from Robbins’ piece:

With the Young trade as the template of a low-cost trade for a distressed asset, league sources speculated that New Orleans Pelicans big man Zion Williamson would be someone the Wizards would have to consider if the price is right.

The Pelicans reportedly have told teams they’re not going to trade Williamson, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy III, Derik Queen or Jeremiah Fears. As it pertains to Williamson only, however, league sources expressed skepticism to The Athletic about that report.

League sources said they cannot envision any scenario in which Washington would give up one of its own future first-round picks. But one source speculated that a pick owed to the Wizards, such as the least favorable of the Houston Rockets’ (top-four protected), LA Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder’s 2026 first-round picks, might satisfy the Pelicans’ goals.

To be crystal clear: The Wizards trading for Williamson appears to be an extreme long shot. But it was mentioned as a possibility by enough league sources that it at least should be mentioned here.

The Wizards made noise early this month by acquiring one of the league’s most potent scorers. So, knowing how quickly that move happened, who knows what could happen with Williamson? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...mson-possible-washington-wizards-trade-target

 

[Washington Wizards]

Midpoint Checkup: Wizards Are A Work In Progress

The first half of the 2025-26 season is history, and the Wizards season has at times inspired hope, frustration, and laughter. There have been puzzling moments (like Kyshawn George trying to force James Harden to go left — TWICE in the final minutes of a close game) and some exciting ones as well (like Alex Sarr emerging as one of the game’s better rim protectors).

At 10-32, the Wizards have the NBA’s third worst winning percentage (the New Orleans Pelicans and Indiana Pacers are percentage points ahead behind). They‘re 14th in the East, 8.5 games out of the play-in, and they have the league’s worst scoring differential adjusted for strength of schedule or not.

As I’ve written previously, scoring margin is the best measure of relative team strength. Adjusted for opponent quality, the Wizards are -10.8 per game this season. That’s a whopping 2.6 points per game worse than the 29th ranked Sacramento Kings.

Barring a complete second half meltdown, the Wizards are out of “worst ever” historical status. Their adjusted scoring margin is 11th worst all-time, which is an improvement from last season when they were third worst. Ever. They remain on course for the worst two-year run — at least in terms of scoring margin — in NBA history.

The Measuring Stick​

Here’s where the Wizards currently rank in the various key stats of team strength (where they ranked at the last update, which was Jan. 13, is in parentheses):

• Offensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions): 28 (27)
• Defensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions): 29 (29)

The departures of CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert have — at least temporarily — reduced Washington’s offensive efficiency. Kispert’s impact is less because he missed much of the season with injuries. Trading McCollum is more consequential because of his ability to create good shots and to make tough ones. Plus, his experience helped the team stay somewhat organized.

With McCollum gone, the young guys have to figure things out on their own, which at this point is probably a good thing for their long-term development. Call it a short-term quarter step back in hopes of taking a couple giant steps forward.

Offensive Four Factors​

• eFG%: 23 (21)
• Offensive Rebounding Percentage: 19 (20)
• Turnover Rate: 26 (26)
• Free Throws Made/Field Goal Attempts: 27 (26)

Since the McCollum trade, the Wizards have shot worse and committed more turnovers. They’re also getting to the free throw line a bit less.

Defensive Four Factors​

• eFG%: 22 (23)
• Defensive Rebounding Percentage: 30 (30)
• Turnover Rate: 28 (28)
• Free Throws Made/Field Goal Attempts: 21 (15)

They’re still last in defensive rebounding, but the actual percentage has gone up to 71.0% — it was 70.0% just a few games ago. They’re still almost two percentage points from 29th. As I wrote after a recent game, the defensive results aren’t good, but the coaching staff is implementing a good defensive scheme, and we’re seeing the predictable growing pains.

Player Production Average​

Below is a table with updated results from the Player Production Average (PPA) metric so far this season. PPA is an overall rating metric I developed that credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, play-making, defending) and debits them for things that hurt the cause (missed shots, turnovers, fouls, ineffective defense). PPA is similar to other linear weight rating metrics such as John Hollinger’s PER, David Berri’s Wins Produced, Kevin Pelton’s VORP, and the granddaddy of them all, Dave Heeren’s TENDEX.

PPA weighs a player’s performance per possession against that of his competitors season by season. While PPA falls into the category of a linear weight metric, the values for statistical categories float a bit season-to-season based on league performance.

PPA is pace neutral, accounts for defense, and includes a “degree of difficulty” factor based on the level of competition a player faces while on the floor. Beginning with the 2019-20 season, I added a position/role adjustment designed to reflect how roles and on-court positioning affect individual abilities to produce certain stats.

Inputs include:

• on-court team defensive rating
• points
• rebounds (offensive and defensive weighed differently)
• assists
• steals
• blocks
• shot attempts
• turnovers
• personal fouls
• starts
• minutes

In the table below, I’ve included each player’s PPA last time, currently (through games played Jan. 19 — game 42), as well as games played and minutes per game. The Garbage Time Brigade has their own section.

In the table below, LAST = the player’s PPA when I last ran an update, which was through games played Jan. 7, 2026.

PLAYER	GAMES	MPG	LAST	PPA
Alex Sarr	33	27.8	157	145
Marvin Bagley III	36	19.3	108	104
Justin Champagnie	40	18.5	99	96
Kyshawn George	33	31.2	89	94
Bilal Coulibaly	25	26.6	83	81
Tre Johnson	35	24.7	79	80
Khris Middleton	29	24.3	83	78
Malaki Branham	24	9.6	42	56
Bub Carrington	42	28.3	47	51
Cam Whitmore	21	16.9	49	49
Tristan Vukcevic	30	11.4	43	46
Will Riley	34	13.8	43	34
AJ Johnson	23	7.1	-7	-13
DEPARTED	GAMES	MPG	PPA	PPA
CJ McCollum	35	30.9	121	121
Corey Kispert	19	19.5	78	78
GTB	GAMES	MPG	PPA	PPA
Anthony Gill	19	3.8	56	48
Jamir Watkins	17	13.4	37	29
Sharife Cooper	4	2.5	-66	-66

2026 All-Star Ballot​

Below is a table showing my picks right now for this year’s All-Star game based on a mix of stats and watching too many games.

EAST	WEST
Giannis Antetokounmpo	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Donovan Mitchell	Nikola Jokic
Tyrese Maxey	Kawhi Leonard
Jalen Duren	Stephen Curry
Jalen Johnson	Luka Doncic
Michael Porter Jr.	Jamal Murray
Cade Cunningham	Anthony Edwards
Jalen Brunson	Victor Wembanyama
Jaylen Brown	Chet Holmgren
Josh Giddey	LeBron James
Norman Powell	Kevin Durant
Scottie Barnes	Deni Avdija

• I paid no attention to position because apparently All-Star has now joined All-NBA as positionless.
• I also paid no attention to the U.S. vs. International aspect of this year’s festivities. On a quick eyeballing of the lists, I see at least eight international players, which is the minimum required.
• I’m not sure if Deni Avdija will actually make the team. He’s playing really well, and there are a lot of good vibes out there about him. In my view, he’s in an arguable group with maybe 6-10 other guys.
• MVP is a two-man race, assuming Jokic can get to the stupid 65-game requirement. SGA’s PPA is 299 (the only player to crack 300 was Stephen Curry, who did it once). Jokic is at 288. Giannis is third at 257.
• LeBron James isn’t on my list because of his status as the game’s elder statesman. His PPA is 182 this season, which is excellent. If I was to drop an old guy for someone playing a little better, it would be Kevin Durant.
• I wanted very much to find a spot for Jimmy Butler, who’s having an excellent season, but I couldn’t see giving two spots to the Golden State Warriors.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...dpoint-checkup-wizards-are-a-work-in-progress