Latest Bad News Gives Wizards Excuse to Blow It Up

In a season that’s already seen loads of discontent and failure, the Washington Wizards are now facing more bad news that could lead them to blow it up for good.

Coming into the 2018-19 NBA regular season, the Washington Wizards were projected to be an above average NBA team that made the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. In fact, early preseason odds had the new-look Wizards looking at 44 or 45 wins on the season. Two months in, however, the team has disappointed on and off the court, with things only getting worse.

Early Friday morning, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Washington’s starting center, Dwight Howard, would likely need surgery on a gluteal injury. The surgery, Woj says, “would cause him to miss a significant portion of the regular season.”

Howard has averaged nearly a double-double this season (12.8 PPG, 9.2 RPG) in nine games and has the third-highest PER on the team behind John Wall and Bradley Beal.

As it stands, it’s up in the air as to how much a Howard-less Wizards team would actually perform. It’s not like they’ve been anywhere near unstoppable with him on the floor, and the chemistry between their three stars leaves a lot to be desired. The news may, however, may provide the team — now 8-13 and on pace for fewer than 40 wins — an excuse to blow things up for good. Yes, they did score a win over the Rockets recently (minus Chris Paul) but that hasn’t stopped the world at large from trying to guess where Wall & Beal will be at the trade deadline. Things continue to get muddied in Washington, D.C. and the best solution, quite honestly, is probably the reset button.

For now, the team will try and focus on beating the Philadelphia 76ers tonight on the road. Tip-off is set for 7:00 P.M ET with the 76ers slated as 7.5-point favorites.

As always, thanks for reading! You can follow Slackie Brown on Twitter here.