NBA Power Rankings: Lakers, Bucks remain the favorites as restart approaches

22. Washington Wizards (24-40)

It should come as no surprise to see the Washington Wizards checking in at No. 22 in our restart NBA Power Rankings. They’ll be entering the bubble without Bradley Beal and Davis Bertans and will likely play their eight games and be gone from the restart. Unless they can catch a team like the Brooklyn Nets, who have their own issues heading into the restart.

The Wizards will need some of their young players to step up in a big way for this team to emerge as a real threat in the Eastern Conference. Maybe they can force a play-in tournament for the final playoff spot (they’d have to make up 1.5 games in the standings to do so). Perhaps they could play spoiler for a team trying to cement a specific seed.

Either way, it’s going to be an uphill battle for the Wizards when the season resumes. At this point, there were even questions as to why even the Wizards were invited inside the bubble. It could prove to be a good experience for some of their young players, but this is not a team that will make much noise.