5 Depressing NBA teams with virtually no chance of climbing out of early-season hole
At the quarter-mark of the season, we explore 5 team who have no shot of climbing out of their early-season hole.
As we arrive at the near quarter-mark of the 2024-25 NBA season, this is naturally a good spot where we can truly examine where each team finds itself. There's a strong enough sample size that we can begin to differentiate the teams that are on the right path and those that perhaps tragedy continues to hit. For a few teams, they haven't been able to get out of their own way to start the season and they find themselves in a huge early-season hole after a disastrous first few weeks of the new NBA campaign.
Of those teams that find themselves in a difficult situation, it's only natural to wonder how many could realistically find a way to right the ship and get their respective seasons back on track. While that could be increasingly difficult to answer, we explore that question and more. There may remain hope for some teams but in this article, we'll explore five teams who have virtually no shot at turning their season around after a depressing start to the year.
Washington Wizards
Even though the Washington Wizards' bad start to the season is not exactly surprising, they are a natural candidate for this list. The rebuilding Wizards have the worst record in the league, at 2-15, and it's hard to imagine how they're going to drastically change the trajectory of their season. It's clear that Washington is prioritizing the development of their young players and as the NBA Trade Deadline quickly approaches, there's a chance this team could take another step back before it moves forward.
Heading into this year's trade season, there's a good chance that Kyle Kuzma, Jonas Valanciunas, and Malcolm Brogdon are traded. Moving those three veterans off this roster, if they were all to be moved, would have a huge impact on the rest of this roster. The Wizards are going to be one of the worst teams in the league all season long and, at this point, it would be extremely surprising if they didn't finish with one of the worst records in the league. For now, it's full speed ahead as a tanking team.