As the Washington Wizards continue to struggle to start the season, at what point is it time for a major shakeup?
Nearly through the first month of the NBA season, the Washington Wizards are 2-9 and have shown no signs of snapping out of their funk. They have a bottom 5 offense and defense, the third worst net rating in the NBA and are practically the worst 3-point shooting team in the NBA.
Eleven games isn’t a huge sample size in order to put a team in a box, but the fact that they have looked downright terrible through the first few weeks of the season has to at least bring up a few questions about a team that was supposed to potentially be a dark horse contender in the Eastern Conference this season.
And one of them is, should this team make a major change?
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A team with as much talent as the Wizards have, shouldn’t be 2-9. Absolutely no way. There’s something off. And when something is off on a talented team, it’s only natural to go to the top.
The top of Washington is John Wall and Bradley Beal. They are the two leaders of this team on the floor and have to take at least some responsibility for the way this team is performing so far this season.
So let’s take a quick breakdown how each of these players have performed so far this season.
Through 11 games, Beal is averaging 23 points, five rebounds and four assists on 47 percent shooting from the field and 35 percent from 3-point range. He’s been pretty consistent this season, and is on par with how he finished the year last season. Not really much to read into here. Beal is what he is, and is a solid second or third piece to a really good team.
While he doesn’t go blameless in this entire mess, he’s certainly playing as he should be expected to. Now on to Wall.
Wall is averaging 21 points, eight assists and four rebounds (all numbers down from last season) on 46 percent shooting from the field and a career-low 27 percent shooting from 3-point range. And from the eye test pint of view, he simply doesn’t look the same.
There’s just something off with Wall this season, and the numbers are beginning to suggest that. But that could have to do more with the team surrounding him than the type of season he’s actually having. There’s really no way to tell which it is, unless you’re in that locker room and have all the information.
That said, at 2-9 something is off. Couple this year’s start with the fact that they largely underachieved last season as they entered the playoffs as the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference, and perhaps this is an issue that has been present for the last two years but is only beginning to surface.
The Washington Wizards have to think long and hard about making a big move, and soon (if they don’t want to waste a season). That could mean trading John Wall. And with his super-max contract extension coming into effect next season, this might be the year for the Wizards to move him if that’s something they’re interested in. Will they pull the trigger?