The Wizards haven’t won 50 games in a regular season since 1979, the last time they made the NBA Finals. They haven’t been to so much as a conference finals since.

The totality of the franchise’s futility since is stark.

Since 1979, the NBA has gone through the Magic-Bird era, the Jordan era, the Kobe-Shaq era, the Iverson era, the Spurs’ dynasty, the Warriors’ dynasty, multiple teams (the Pistons, Rockets and Heat) winning multiple championships, rebuilds of the Lakers and Celtics into championship teams, James’ two-plus decades career, the Malice at the Palace, David Stern’s reign as commissioner, dozens of rules changes, the Seattle SuperSonics becoming the Oklahoma City Thunder, NBC getting the broadcast rights to NBA games in 1989, NBC losing those rights in 2002, NBC getting them back in 2025, the Dream Team, and the vanguard of international players coming into the league.

And during all of that, the Wizards have been utterly irrelevant.

“If people say, ‘Are you going to D.C.?’ or D.C. comes to town, guys stay up a little later, and kind of mess around in the game,” Wizards forward Anthony Davis said on the first day of training camp.

If all goes to plan, though, Dybantsa will start to change that.

“I say, ‘AJ, don’t you feel the pressure?'” said his father, whom everyone calls Ace. “He goes, ‘What pressure?’ I say, ‘The pressure of doing well, the pressure of people coming after you.’ He says, ‘Dad, I’m just hooping. I just put my head down.’

“So, I say, ‘This is the NBA, different pressure.’ He says, ‘The ball hasn’t changed. I’m still hooping.'”

His impact on the Wizards, before he’s played a single regular-season game, is already palpable. New season-ticket sales are up more than 600 percent since the Wizards won the lottery, per a team spokesperson, compared with the same time period last year. Overall, new season-ticket sales have increased more than 200 percent.

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Season-ticket leads — inquiries from the public about buying seats for the coming season — have increased 62 percent since the lottery, and 53 percent of that came after Washington drafted Dybantsa. And the buzz around the team from national NBA media, which has, with justification, ignored the franchise for generations, is significant.

A lot of eyes will be on Anicet Dybantsa Jr.

“When the Wizards called me, they go, ‘What level do you think AJ is?'” said Joe Saunders, Dybantsa’s AAU coach when his talent began to blossom in his early teens.

“I think he can be a superstar,” Saunders said. “I really think he can get on that, like, Giannis, Wemby level. Now it depends upon him, in becoming a man, those big things your father taught you, those little things Coach Joe taught you. … How’s it going to be now, when you have money? How’s it going to be when you have women (paying more attention)? I think he’s going to be fine, because Ace has done a great job, equipped him with a lot …

“This s—‘s embedded in him.”

Nine players in team history have worn #6, (which is now retired NBA-wide to honor the late great Bill Russell)

Challenge: Name the last four Wizards who wore #6 before it was retired 🤔

Bonus Challenge: ELITE ball knowers and/or older fans — try to name the next four too!

Will be really impressed if anyone nails all of ‘em 👏

The full video is around 5 minutes. I’m linking the source to the video for those who want to watch the rest. Sauce

WASHINGTON — AJ Dybantsa still takes out the trash.

He lives in the District. For now, he’s eschewing the usual move to Potomac or one of the city’s other tony suburbs. Doesn’t mean he isn’t actively scoping out other properties in town. But for now, he hauls the garbage out to the stoop. He could probably finesse going to a grocery store for some eggs if he had to, as well. But he doesn’t.

“I would just, uh, what are they called? Is it Postmates? You can do Postmates,” the 19-year-old said a few days ago at the Washington Wizards practice facility.

The garbage question, of course, isn’t about keeping track of Dybantsa’s chores. It’s a small window to inform if famous people have some idea of what it’s like for the not-famous, and if they’re at all relatable. (Stars! They’re just like us!)

AJ Dybantsa still has to take out his own trash. Maybe he’s … just like you.

If you were a 6-9, 220-pound budding star who led the nation in scoring as a freshman last year. Or were on TV for the first time in the eighth grade, when you attended West Middle School in Brockton, Mass. Or were still on TV as a 19-year-old “correspondent” for NBA TV during the NBA Finals in June.

Or if you were among the first teenagers to cash in, early and often, on the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) system, which has paid the top prospects in high school and college basketball top dollar the last few years.Or if you had 1.2 million followers on Instagram, including LeBron James, Jayson Tatum and Jayden Daniels — who was one of the first people to text you after Adam Silver called out your name on draft night (“Anicet Dybantsa Jr.,” Silver said, at the family’s request, in honor of Dybantsa’s father, with whom he shares the name).

AJ doesn’t mind the attention. If he doesn’t revel in it, he’s grown comfortable with it. Not all that long ago, he, too, was a fan.

“I was never seeing what LeBron and KD (Kevin Durant) were doing outside of basketball,” Dybantsa said. “Now that social media is so big, a lot of my fans will DM me or text me and be like, ‘Oh, what do you do, like, outside of basketball?’ So, me and my team took that seriously. … They want to see us do H-O-R-S-E. They want to see when I go to the US Open.”

All of this is to say, AJ Dybantsa is not just like you.

Read more for free here: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7649979/2026/10/15/aj-dybantsa-wizards-path-byu-brockton/?unlocked_article_code=1.I1E.p4-l.wlS2NHZY6Mni&source=emp_shared_article&smid=url-share-ta

Justin Champagnie, tabbed by HC Brian Keefe as one who makes 'winning plays,' is finding his role on the '26-27 Wizards

"All I can do is continue to show up & be ready when my name & number is called & be there for my team, which I pride myself on doing" https://roundtable.io/sports/nba/wizards/players/justin-champagnie-looks-for-consistent-role-on-washington-wizards

From BMitch and Finlay earlier today

Finding a free stream has been painful and I don’t have cable. Are y’all going to pay for Monumental subscription? Anyone know where there are free trials?

Edit: sorry for the cop/narc vibes lol. Just don’t wanna pay 100 bucks or whatever. Monumental app sucks

Any wizards fans who live in PA or the Philly area? Wanting to know the best way to stream wizards games.

I know there is the monument app, NBA league pass, just wanna avoid paying for something then getting hit with blackouts

14 players in team history have worn #7, currently being worn by Bub Carrington

Who remembers/can name these last four before him?

#ForTheDistrict #DCountdown #1WEEK

Hey all, as a Hawks fan I just wanted to handover the tradition of being outraged at how low The Ringer ranks Trae Young. In previous years we could direct our vitriol at Kevin O'Connor who was notoriously low on Trae but this year it looks like it's Danny Chau.

In previous years they had Trae as a "Coach killer", "Petulant", "Flight risk" and other unflattering labels. I think most of us from the Hawks reddit are rooting for Trae and the Wizards this season. As you are all probably seeing in preseason, Trae is an absolute wizard with the ball and you will be treated to eye-popping assists on a nightly basis. He is criminally underrated.

https://www.theringer.com/nba-ranked/top-100

To be clear, the top 100 is consensus among Ringer staff so please don't get on Danny Chau about this, he just did the write up.

Check this out from 2023:

How dare they!?

I have been watching the Wizards since 2004; seen the malaise era and the high hoops era of the Team. I (together with so many fans in the region) have watched the tank commanders soldier on the past two seasons and be rewarded now. I love the management of the team and its roster and coaching moves. I have been reading and watching and listening to so many positive pre-season reactions that sound too good to be true. I have been excited watching our pre-season games.

But at the back of my head, there is always the thought of - "if its too good to be true, then it ain't true at all". Don't get me wrong - I want the Wiz to go deep in the playoffs. But there are plenty of other teams that are stacked both East and West. The East is formidable this year. Is Chief Keefe our leader out of the quagmire? Is AD occupying the bench for half our games? And so on...

I think the fan and team hype this year is too good to be true. Am I being over-anxious? Does anyone else feel the same way as I do?

Only teams behind us are the true dregs of the league - Kings, Nets, Clips and Bucks. Just above us is the Pelicans, with the rest of the list to be revealed in the next week. I expect our team to be super entertaining regardless of record, so I was a bit surprised (esp since Lowe is the rare national analyst who actually compliments us from time to time). I do think our broadcast is below average overall, but here's hoping this ranking way underestimates the watchability/buzz factor of our squad this season.

Thoughts? Am i just suffering from Wizards Fever?

First time half season ticket holder here. Incredible time, good music, G Wiz, good food, and some wine. Only had an hour for signatures, which was just enough to meet AD, Sarr, Mann, Riley, Bilal. People showed up, it was a packed museum. So excited for this year!

Hey Wizards fans, so I’m making a video on each franchise’s biggest upset (when they were not expected to win) and each franchise’s biggest choke (sorry if that strikes a chord). I have my guesses for each but I wanted to ask actual Wizards fans to see what you guys think and if you have better answers that I should look at.

I'm considering an upset strictly as when that team was not supposed to win or were big underdogs and won. A choke can either be when your team was expected to win and underperformed, or blew a big lead in an important game or in the playoffs (something around those lines). It can also be a blown playoff lead (example: 3-1 lead)

Let me know what you guys think, I will link the video here when it’s done. Good luck to you guys this season!!

We could have a whole series of jerseys based on DC icons, we've got cherry blossoms already, there's also the neo-classical marble architecture, the metro, the kennedy center (for now), jazz, ethiopian culture, etc

EDIT: I used https://2kjerseycreator.com/

The fan energy this year man 🔥

I remember getting this as a gift over 20 years ago - surprised it was still in good condition.

My main gripe with Bilal unlike most of yall, isn’t his inconsistent offense, it’s his effort boxing out. He’s too reliant on out jumping guys in the paint rather than putting a body on someone. Other than that, great game from Bilal. I haven’t sold my stock, I’ve been buying more shares 📈

16 players in team history have worn #8

Who remembers these four from the 2010s?

#ForTheDistrict #DCountdown #RIP🕊️

Justin Larson has loved the Washington Wizards his entire life.

Watching the team’s games remains one of his favorite pastimes. But over the past six months, he has developed a related hobby that he considers a passion project. Larson has designed new Wizards uniforms in the hope that team officials will rebrand the franchise. He shares his designs on X, and he attempts to catch the attention of some players and team executives by including their social media handles in his posts.

Larson regards the Wizards’ red, white and blue color scheme for their primary home and away jerseys, adopted in 2011 and based on the Washington Bullets’ uniforms of the 1970s and early ’80s, as outdated and unoriginal.

“I’m determined to keep pushing,” Larson said. “I realize that none of my designs may be used, but if I can get any input into that, I would love to do that. As a fan, I want us to have good-looking uniforms and logos that you’d actually want to rock and look good and you’d wear in different states and different areas of the U.S.”

Many Wizards fans share Larson’s opinion. They want a rebrand with new primary uniforms, a new logo and, perhaps, even a new name. For the first time since the backcourt tandem of John Wall and Bradley Beal powered Washington to the Eastern Conference semifinals, the franchise has hope, with a young nucleus headed by reigning No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa and supplemented by four-time All-Star Trae Young and 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis. The argument goes like this: A long-awaited new era for Wizards basketball should include a novel, distinctive look.

“Fans want that fresh new look, and they want something that is a little more bolder and a little more modern,” said Lee Newman, who operates a Wizards fan account on X and monitors trends within the fanbase.

The fan push for a rebrand is well known to executives within Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), the company that owns and operates the Wizards, the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, the NHL’s Washington Capitals, the G League’s Capital City Go-Go, the NBA 2K League’s Wizards District Gaming and Monumental Sports Network.

MSE president of business operations and chief commercial officer Jim Van Stone, MSE chief marketing officer Hunter Lochmann and their colleagues have learned about fans’ hopes for a rebrand through customer surveys, social media feedback and occasional conversations at games. Van Stone and Lochmann, in an interview with The Athletic, said they are open to new approaches that would go beyond the annual unveiling of new alternate jerseys for the league’s 30 teams.