‘Now or never’: Wizards fans carry cautious optimism ahead of key NBA draft

· Yahoo Sports

There have been plenty of terrible NBA teams over the past three years, to the point that the league is reshaping the draft lottery starting next season to discourage tanking. That makes the 2026 draft especially important for the league’s bottom dwellers, starting with the Wizards.

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Washington owns a league-worst 50-196 record over the past three seasons. No other team comes close to that level of futility.

But this offseason carries hope. The Wizards landed the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since 2010, when they took Kentucky point guard John Wall. An ultra-talented rookie will join a core featuring Trae Young, Anthony Davis and Alex Sarr.

The Baltimore Sun spoke with three Wizards fans to gauge their feelings ahead of the draft, which begins Tuesday. While the supporters differed on some points, they shared a sense of newfound excitement.

“It feels like it’s going to make the entire rebuild process feel justified and worth it,” Ben Strober, co-host of the “LockedOnWizards” podcast, said of the draft. “This is why you only win 50 games over three years — you have the ability to draft a player like this.”

Strober, a 22-year-old from Gaithersburg, said this draft feels entirely different than last year.

Washington was tied for the best lottery odds to land the No. 1 pick in 2025, but dropped to No. 6 and picked Tre Johnson. The rookie guard averaged a respectable 12.2 points per game, but he wasn’t Cooper Flagg. The No. 1 pick from Duke earned NBA Rookie of the Year honors after scoring 21 points per game for the Dallas Mavericks.

This year, the Wizards did land No. 1. But unlike Flagg in 2025, there’s no clear best player.

Most mock drafts have Washington selecting either BYU’s AJ Dybantsa or Kansas’ Darryn Peterson. Dybantsa, a 19-year-old small forward who averaged 25.5 points per game last season, is the favorite. Strober believes he possesses a “franchise-face kind of personality.”

“His ability to handle the basketball, generate rim pressure, get to the free throw line at his young age — just screams NBA-level star,” Strober said. “He just screams cornerstone player for them.”

Adarsh Kannan also prefers Dybantsa, but will be happy with whoever Washington selects. The 36-year-old from Baltimore County has faith in Will Dawkins, citing how the majority of the general manager’s moves since he took over in 2023 have been “fantastic.”

Kannan’s confidence doesn’t stop there. He believes the Wizards can be a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference next season, meaning they would make the playoffs for the first time since the 2020-21 season. Kannan thinks they can be a true contender by 2029.

“It’s been 48 years since the Wizards won a championship. I have hope,” he said. “But it’s now or never.”

Danny Black disagrees with Strober and Kannan on who Washington should draft. The 48-year-old from Baltimore wants Peterson, who, somewhat surprisingly, met only with the Wizards during the predraft process. Dybantsa, who played college and high school ball in Utah, visited the Wizards and the Jazz, who pick No. 2.

That matters to Black, who said Washington needs players who want to be there. It’s key to a winning organization, he added.

It’s not just about that, though. Black called Peterson the “best pure scorer in the draft” and said the 6-foot-6, 19-year-old guard would be a sound backcourt fit with Young since both can play on and off the ball.

Peterson’s college injuries, most notably cramping issues that caused him to miss 11 games last season, were overstated, Black said.

“From everything I’ve read, he was misdiagnosed by a college staff of medical experts … It took until the postseason to get a correct diagnosis,” Black said. “They tried to manage him for one year, and I think that hurt his reputation.”

What scares Black the most is looking back on this draft in five years as a Manning-Leaf situation.

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It’s a reference to the 1998 NFL draft. The Indianapolis Colts drafted quarterback Peyton Manning, who earned two Super Bowl titles, 14 Pro Bowl appearances and a record five NFL Most Valuable Player Awards. Quarterback Ryan Leaf went second overall to the then-San Diego Chargers. He started just 21 career games, throwing 14 touchdown passes to 36 interceptions.

The Colts hadn’t won a Super Bowl since 1971 in Baltimore before Manning brought them one in 2007. Black hopes that whoever the Wizards draft can help spark a similar revival — and change the lifelong fan’s constant feeling of despair about the team.

Black recognizes how crucial this pick is, especially with upcoming lottery changes designed to incentivize winning over draft position.

“This is the last best chance the Wizards have for improvement through the draft,” he said.

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