Following several new roster additions, the Washington Wizards will now look to improve drastically and make the Eastern Conference playoffs this year. In early December, Washington sent franchise point guard John Wall and a heavily protected first round pick to the Houston Rockets in return for superstar Russell Westbrook.

Wall has missed the majority of the past 2 seasons due to a torn achilles, and there have been many questions on how his previous injuries will affect his ability to play at an elite level going forward. 

The Wizards have struggled mightily without the presence of Wall on the court, finishing with a 32-50 record in the 18-19 season, and 25-47 this past year, missing the playoffs both seasons.

“It’s been disappointing these past few years missing the playoffs, outside of Bradley Beal the team has been pretty disastrous but with some key additions this year I think we can be competitive,” sophomore Jaden Carothers said.

Training camp for the 20-21 season has already begun, and the new NBA season begins on December 22nd. The NBA will look to play a 72 game season, 10 games less than the normal 82 games due to the season starting 2 months later than previously scheduled.

Beal has been incredible since John Wall went out with injury, averaging over 30 ppg this past season and just missing the cut for the all star team. With the addition of Westbrook, the chemistry between the two franchise players will be an exciting thing to watch develop over the coming seasons.

Westbrook played his only season with the Houston Rockets last year, averaging over 27 points per game, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. He had previously played 11 seasons with the OKC Thunder before being traded for Chris Paul and an abundance of draft picks before the start of the 2019 season.

Westbrook is an extremely athletic guard who has a tremendous ability to get to the rim and plays in electric fashion both offensively and defensively. He won the MVP award in the 16-17 after becoming the second player to average over 10 points, 10 assists, and 10 rebounds in NBA history.

“I certainly think that we will improve this year, and it will be exciting to see the new team go out there and compete. I still think that Beal is our franchise player and I hope Westbrook will be able to fit nicely into that second option role,” sophomore Marcelo Pozo said.

The Wizards also added SF Deni Avdiji from Israel with the 9th pick in the NBA draft. Avdiji has spent the past few seasons playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv, a premier basketball club in Europe.

Avdiji has established himself as a physical defender, he is a 6’9 extremely athletic forward who plays with high intelligence and high offensive upside.

“I believe the Wizards will have a winning record with an additional superstar alongside Bradley Beal and some key players. I believe the Wizards can prove that they are a playoff contender,” sophomore Emmanuel Adomakoh said.