Tanking, when NBA teams deliberately lose games to improve their draft lottery position, has become one of the league’s most prevalent issues. However, Wizards owner Ted Leonsis is challenging the definition.
Leonsis sat down with Front Office Sports editor in chief Dan Roberts following an 18–64 season in Washington and explained the franchise’s strategy.
“We weren’t tanking. We were developing players. It’s a little different than maybe what some of the other teams’ strategy was,” said Leonsis, CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the NHL’s Capitals and WNBA’s Mystics.
Tanking or Rebuilding?
Leonsis’s point is that the Wizards focused on youth—and younger teams are prone to more mistakes and losses. Washington trotted out the fifth-youngest team and had the lowest average age in the NBA when weighed by minutes played, according to NBA-Age.com. Their most-used lineup of the season, excluding Kyle Kuzma, who was traded in February, included three rookies (Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington, and Kyshawn George) and a sophomore (Bilal Coulibaly).
But there are still some data points to show the Wizards may have limited the playing time of their more experienced players. Jordan Poole averaged 29.4 minutes per game this season, but under 25 minutes in March and April. He played in just three of seven games in April.
The Wizards traded several key veterans in recent years to get to this position, including Bradley Beal, Rui Hachimura, and Deni Avdija. Before the trades, however, Washington was a middling franchise that struggled to win a playoff series—and the argument could be made that focusing on youth development and better draft positioning is best for long-term success.
The strategy worked for the Thunder, who won fewer than 25 games in the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons. Oklahoma City won 68 games this year and is a win away from the conference finals with a roster that was built, in part, by Will Dawkins, who became the Wizards’ GM in 2023.
Unfortunately for the Wizards, the lottery gods did not shine in D.C. on Monday. The team fell to No. 6 in the lottery despite being tied for the best odds to nab the top pick. Leonsis said the team has to believe it can still find a game-changer.
“We can’t internally, culturally, think, we lost because we’re picking sixth,” Leonsis said.
However, Washington’s draft history under Leonsis doesn’t provide a lot of confidence. The last time Washington had the No. 6 pick was in 2011, and it selected Jan Veselý and Chris Singleton, respectively. It missed on five other future All-Stars drafted in the first round, including Klay Thompson at No. 11 and Kawhi Leonard at No. 15.
But Leonsis has built a new front office led by Monumental Basketball president Michael Winger and Dawkins, who remains steadfast in the team’s strategy.
“This rebuild that we’re on, we’re still in the beginning phases of it. There will be more and more rewards at the end of the tunnel, but six is the reward for where we’re at right now,” Wizards GM Dawkins said Monday.
