The Washington Wizards

 

The Wizards came into the season off an absolute Cinderella run the prior season, making it all the way to the eastern conference finals. Damian Lillard and Devin Booker looked poised to have the best backcourt in the league locked up for years to come.  With an engine geared toward guards the Wizards were set.  Josh is seemingly one of the quieter GMs around the league, but every time I have had an interaction with him, they�ve always been super positive and easy going.   Devin Booker is the face of this franchise and he should see some significant love in 2k this year off the back of an impressive NBA playoff run.  The Raptors traded for Karl Anthony Towns which was a shock to most of the league as Damian Lillard was exploding night in and night out, but when you step back and see that Book and Kat will be paired together for a very very long time in Washington, it all makes sense.  Washington look set to be a perennial playoff team in the NSL. 

 

Potential Line-up for 2021-22 season:

PG: Jalen Brunson, Malachi Flynn

SG: Devin Booker, Desmond Bane

SF: Jae Crowder, Terrence Ross

PF: Aaron Gordon, Xavier Tillman

C: Karl Anthony Towns

 

If I remember correctly there is a few other trades to happen here, well as Free Agency.  GM Joshua has put together a great young roster with tonnes of win now potential and room to grow in the future.  The pairing of UK teammates Book and Towns make for a formidable duo that GMs around the league will no doubt have to game plan for.  GM Josh has also done a magnificent job drafting young studs such as Desmond Bane and acquiring other players via trade like Aaron Gordon and Jalen Brunson.  This line-up has plenty of two-way ability and is very 2k friendly as you can see.  If they can lock in a solid big in Free Agency to back up Towns and provide line-up flexibility to potentially play alongside Towns, they�re going to be well and truly ready to roll into next season.

 

Season Highlight:

It�s hard to pinpoint an exact highlight for the Wizards, I guess you could say that maintaining homecourt advantage after trading away the eventual FMVP in Damian Lillard is a highlight.  They got off to a hot start and there wasn�t too much loss in the win�s column post Lillard trade.  Pairing Towns with Book has to be a highlight.

 

Season Lowlight:

It would have to be getting swept in the first round by the Indiana Pacers.  Joel Embiid played absolutely out of his mind in this series.  The wizards were dealt a rough hand with the last engine, KAT was not as effective as he should have been/will be in years ahead, averaging a measly 13.8/9.8/3.8 in round 1 vs the Pacers, obviously you�d be wanting more from a guy who looks set to be a 2k demigod.  Meanwhile on the other side Embiid was a 37ppg and 19.5rpg per night.  It will be interesting to see if these two teams meet again in the future as I believe the matchup will be much closer. 

 

 

Best Trade:  

Washington Receives: Karl-Anthony Towns

San Antonio Receives: Damian Lillard

 

I know this might be looked down on from the Wizards standpoint, but when you get to lock up two budding stars on the same timeline and similar contract length, it�s hard not to see this as a win.  Especially when you�re accounting for how well they complement each other in theory.  As mentioned previously the duo of Booker and Towns will be a formidable one for many years.

 

Worst Trade:

I know this is going to be contradictory but the worst trade in my eyes was.

 

Washington receive Karl-Anthony Towns

San Antonio Receive: Damian Lillard

 

The only reason I say this is the worst trade is because Dame had a legit MVP season underway prior to being traded.  Lillard was well and truly a 1a/1b situation in comparison to the league MVP Steph Curry.  While the deal makes sense as stated previously, it�s hard for me to imagine this team flames out round 1 with Dame on their team. 

 

Other Notable Trades:

Washington Receive: Jae Crowder, Daniel Theis and 3x seconds

Boston Receive: TJ Warren and Dean Wade

 

I like this trade for the Wizards as TJ Warren was just a warm body on the bench all year and is also not a very 2k friendly player, would this have changed post the bubble where TJ became MJ for 2 weeks? We will never know.  Theis is also a nice bench big who I think is under appreciated. 

 

X-Factor:

For many years we have all thought �this will be the year� for Aaron Gordon.  He is arguably one of the most polarising players across the league, he has all the tools and potential you want from a modern-day PF, not to mention extreme bounce, making a very 2k friendly player.  The Nuggets locked him down on a multi-year deal, they must see something in him because he didn�t show much in the absence of Murray.  If Aaron finally puts it all together, he will be a great 3^rd fiddle to the two headed monster in Washington, AG is currently signed for the next 5 seasons, on a team friendly deal.  

 

The Future:

The Wizards have one of the brightest futures in the league as mentioned many times, KAT and Book are going to be in Washington a long time, they�re both locked up for the next 3 years.  They have brilliant role players who complement their stars as well such as Jae Crowder, Desmond Bane, Aaron Gordon.  The Wiz will look to compete deeper into the playoff�s year with a big year in store for KAT Josh would hope.  Free Agency will be key to filling out the rotation.  GM Josh makes plenty of savvy trades so I doubt that this will be the roster we see at the end of this coming season. 

 

Prediction:

I believe a healthy Wizards team pre Free Agency will finish 58-22, which is 4 more wins than they achieved this past season.  This wil largely be off the back of KAT being much improved in the new engine.

 When asked for a comment GM Josh says �I�m excited for the upcoming. Happy with a good young core that will continue to develop. Expecting a huge season from KAT this year after he really went to work on his body in the off season.�

All the best Josh.