The Washington Wizards are weeks away from selecting at the top of the 2026 NBA Draft, so looking at next season as a realistic time frame to return to contention feels almost too good to be true.
Then again, the San Antonio Spurs just laid down the blueprint on how to complete a total 360 turnaround in the span of one year, so why can't the Wizards be the next team to take the league by surprise?
This time last year, the Spurs were preparing to utilize their No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft after surprisingly rising in the NBA Draft Lottery, the pick that led them to secure one of the best young guards in the league today, Dylan Harper.
Fast forward to now, San Antonio is three games away from securing the franchise's sixth NBA Championship as they battle the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals.
So if the Wizards are going to enter next season with high expectations placed on them, why not dream big?
Wizards should be eyeing a big jump
The Spurs have a 7-foot-4 generational talent playing in their favor that the Wizards simply don't have in Victor Wembanyama.
Then again, Washington has a 7-foot French product of their own, who's just beginning to scratch the surface of the dominant two-way player he can develop into heading into year three.
Obviously, San Antonio's built towards this emergence for years now, with the development of key talents on their young core in Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, and even Julian Champagnie, along with the acquisition of De'Aaron Fox ahead of last year's NBA trade deadline.
And while Rome wasn't built in a day, it's fair to say the Wizards have made their own efforts to follow a similar path.
Landing Trae Young and Anthony Davis ahead of February's deadline, the emergence of Kyshawn George alongside Sarr, and the abundance of young talent on the roster are enough to be optimistic about what's to come.
Not to mention, we're weeks away from one of AJ Dybantsa or Darryn Peterson being crowned the top pick and joining what's being built in the DMV.
Washington has loads of talent, a healthy mix of veterans and rising stars that could help them make a leap, and considering it's fair to argue that Young has led a worse Atlanta Hawks team to the Eastern Conference Finals at one point, perhaps the All-Star guard could lead Washington on a similar run to stun the rest of the NBA.
Expectations should be tempered, but there's reason to wonder what the ceiling is on next year's team.
It's not realistic, but not out of the possibility
At the end of the day, I'm a realist, and every fan should be too when it comes to the comparison of these situations.
Wemby is vastly better than any player the Wizards have at their disposal, and nearly every team in the league can say that.
The Spurs also stumbled their way to the No. 2 pick last offseason when the lottery stunningly fell in their favor, granting their injury-plagued season a top pick.
Still, nobody expected them to be in this situation right now, especially with a rookie head coach in Mitch Johnson.
Washington running the table next season likely won't happen, but there's a real reason to believe they can shock some people, and as long as the locker room believes in what they're building, who's to say they can't write their names in the history books?
As the great Kevin Garnett once said, anything is possible!
