After a hot start, the Wizards are entering a challenging stretch of schedule with a roster-wide decline in performance. The NBA season is a long and pitiless marathon, and over its 82 games, teams reveal bit by bit what they are.
For the Wizards, gone are the lofty fantasies of sustainably elite defense and good-enough offense. What’s left is the reality of a flawed an unbalanced roster filled with average (and worse) players.
Despite the years-long marketing blitz to promote Bradley Beal as among the game’s elite players and building blocks, the Wizards lacked — and continue to lack — a true franchise player.