2023–24 Washington Wizards season

The previous season ended in disappointing fashion, with the Wizards falling all the way to 12th in the Eastern Conference and missing the playoffs entirely. General Manager Tommy Sheppard was unceremoniously fired after the end of the season. After about a month of searching, team owner Ted Leonsis decided to appoint former LA Clippers executive Michael Winger as the President of Monumental Basketball,^[1] Leonsis' organization that oversees all pro basketball teams in the Washington, DC area including the Wizards, the Capital City Go-Go, and the Washington Mystics. Winger then brought in Will Dawkins act as the new Wizards' GM and Travis Schlenk as the Senior VP of Player Personnel, and promoted John Thompson III as Senior VP of Monumental Basketball.^[2]

At first, the team appeared ready to try building around their "Big 3" of Bradley Beal, Kristaps Porziņģis, and Kyle Kuzma. However, the new Front Office decided to tear down and rebuild the roster shortly after getting settled in. Beal was traded to the Phoenix Suns, as one of the few destinations that would both make the space to take him and where Beal was willing to waive the No Trade Clause attached to his contract. The Wizards would receive Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, and a large list of future draft pick considerations in both rounds until 2030. Porziņģis was moved in a sign-and-trade deal to the Boston Celtics as part of a three-team trade with the Memphis Grizzlies that would net the Wizards Tyus Jones, Danilo Gallinari, and Mike Muscala. Kuzma declined to pick up his Player Option, instead opting for the Free Agent market. However, Kuzma would later be lured back to Washington with a 4-year contract worth about $90 Million.

On Draft Night, the Wizards made their proposed trades (above) official, but roped in the Indiana Pacers with their Phoenix trade to move up to the #7 draft spot and take the young Frenchman, Bilal Coulibaly. The Wizards also flipped Chris Paul to the Golden State Warriors, along with their 57th pick in the night's draft (which would be used on Trayce Jackson-Davis), to acquire Jordan Poole, Ryan Rollins, and Patrick Baldwin Jr. on top of a couple of future draft picks and cash considerations. The Wizards later traded Monté Morris to the Detroit Pistons and would later waive Xavier Cooks and Taj Gibson to be under the maximum player limit before the season started.

The Wizards opened their season in Indiana with a brutal loss to the Pacers, 143-120. However, they would bounce back the very next game. With their home opener in DC against Memphis, the Wizards won 113-106 in a match where they led by 25 points in the third quarter. The Wizards would finish the month with a 1-2 record.

The Wizards went into free-fall during this month, losing every game except for two against opponents who were close to them in the standings: the Charlotte Hornets and the Detroit Pistons, with a 9-game losing streak between those two wins. Between a lack of rebounding, a porous defense, and no true Center on the team (except Daniel Gafford) able to guard against taller opponents, the team had few paths to victory. The team would either let leads slip away late in close losses, or play the end of their bench earlier in games than usual, to give them some playing time during blowouts. The month ended with the Wizards at 2-13 record for the month, 3-15 overall, fighting with the Pistons and San Antonio Spurs for the ignoble honor of holding worst record in the entire NBA for the season.

The Wizards continued their losing streak from the end of November, losing close games to the Magic and 76ers despite holding leads midway through the game, followed by blowouts from the Nets and 76ers where they were dominated through the entire game, including a 45-point loss against the 76ers on December 11. Jules Bernard was signed to a two-way contract from the Go-Go, and John Butler Jr. was waived in a corresponding move. Bernard picked up his first points as an NBA player in the latter match. On December 13, team owner Ted Leonsis announced that he planned to move the team across the Potomac River, to Alexandria, VA, and take advantage of an offer from Governor Glenn Youngkin to build his own new stadium and surrounding development in a deal worth up to $2 Billion, including at least $650 Million in public funding.^[3]

By the end of the month, the Wizards had doubled their win total on the season, going 3-11 on the month and 6-26 for the season.

The month of January saw the Wizards woes continue. The team waived Ryan Rollins on January 8, and three days later he was charged with multiple counts of petit larceny, accused of stealing multiple items from a Target store in Alexandria, VA, worth less than $1,000.^[4] Winger would not confirm if the charges were the reason that Rollins was waived.^[4] The team made other roster moves this month, signing Hamidou Diallo to a 10-Day Contract on January 9. On January 14, the team traded with the Pistons again, sending Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala to Detroit, in exchange for Marvin Bagley III, Isaiah Livers, and two future second-round draft picks. Bagley was soon integrated into the Wizards' rotation, but Livers never saw the floor for the team, recovering from inflammation in his right hip since the day he was traded until the Wizards made an official announcement to declare him out for the rest of the season in the following month.^[5]

On the court, the Wizards were even worse, with two 6-game losing streaks split in the middle by a win against the Atlanta Hawks on January 13. On January 25, Wes Unseld Jr. was relieved of his coaching duties and transferred to a front office position. Brian Keefe was promoted to interim Head Coach for the remainder of the season. During the first games under his reign, the Wizards achieved their first winning streak of the season, winning two games back-to-back in Detroit and San Antonio, on January 27 and 29, respectively, scoring exactly 118 points in both. By the end of the month, the Wizards went 3-12, with all three wins coming on the road, and had a 9-38 record for the season.

As the trade deadline approached, Winger continued to hold out for a willing partner that would give the Wizards a first-round pick for any players on the trading block. On February 8th, Winger got his wish, trading their starting Center, Daniel Gafford, to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Richaun Holmes and Dallas' first-round pick in the 2024 NBA draft. On the 16th, the team waived Delon Wright. On the 22nd, the team would give a 10-Day Contract to Justin Champagnie.

This month saw the Wizards hit their nadir on the court, winning zero games, and on a 13-game losing streak since their loss against the Clippers on January 31. The only Wizards representative at the 2024 NBA All-Star Game in the middle of tne month was Coulibaly, who appeared in the Rising Stars Challenge, as a member of Team Pau. The team would finish 0-12 for the month and with a 9-50 record on the season.

With the Wizards mathematically eliminated from playoff contention this month, the front office made a few more moves looking to the future. The team converted the contracts of Eugene Omoruyi and Justin Champagnie to 2-year deals, with Omoruyi getting a spot on the main roster and Champagnie getting a Two-Way Contract. On March 14, second-round draft pick Tristan Vukčević, who spent most of the year playing with Partizan Belgrade in Serbia, was also brought to DC and signed to a two-year deal with the Wizards. Meanwhile, Leonsis and Youngkin's plans to build a new stadium and real estate development in Alexandria fell through when the local and state governments refused to allow public tax dollars to fund the project. Leonsis decided to return to Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington, DC, and quickly took her proposed deal to keep the Wizards home in the District.

The Wizards managed to win more games this month than any other in the season, including their first home victory since a December 29th match against the Nets. Even though they were eliminated from the playoffs, the team finished 5-11 for the month and had a 14-61 record for the season.

The Wizards entered the 2023 NBA Draft holding one first-round pick and two second round picks.^[6] After a series of moves on draft night, the Wizards swapped first-round spots with the Indiana Pacers to gain the rights to French forward Bilal Coulibaly with the 7th overall pick, sending Jarace Walker to the Pacers and a couple of future second-round picks. The team would use their #42 overall pick on the young Serbian player Tristan Vukčević. Later, the rights to Trayce Jackson-Davis (Pick #57 overall) were folded into a larger trade with the Golden State Warriors in exchange for cash considerations and Patrick Baldwin Jr.

This became the first regular season where all the NBA teams competed in a mid-season tournament setting due to the implementation of the 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament.^[7][8]

This was the first regular season where all the NBA teams would compete in a mid-season tournament setting due to the implementation of the 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament.^[9][10] During the in-season tournament period, the Wizards competed in Group B of the Eastern Conference, which included the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, and Charlotte Hornets.