The Washington Wizards are heading into a season with positive buzz for the first time in ages, and this optimism has some real substance behind it. Washington has not made the playoffs since 2021 and has won fewer than 20 games in each of the past three seasons, which makes the shift in tone around this long-suffering franchise quite notable.

The foundation of this hope is the pair of multiple-time All-Stars that the retooled Wizards added earlier this calendar year, Anthony Davis and Trae Young. With a full offseason behind them, both are expected to begin the season fully healthy, giving the team one of the inside-out duos in the league. Young is only 28 years old and squarely in his prime, while Davis, at 33, is at the tail end of his but remains one of the best big men in the league. 

The presence of this pair alone should push Washington into the postseason race in the East, but the roster goes well beyond them. Small forward AJ Dybantsa, the first overall pick of the 2026 NBA Draft, is expected to play a major role from day one. He joins emerging center Alex Sarr, the second overall pick of the 2024 draft, and 6-foot-8 swingman Kyshawn George, the 24th pick in that same class, to round out the expected starting five.

The result is a tall lineup full of capable scorers who can feed off Young’s elite playmaking. Defensively, the lineup is tall and nimble enough to help cover for Young’s shortcomings on that end, which suggests that this group has the potential to be greater than the sum of its parts.

The Wizards’ reserve group is no pushover either. Shooting guard Tre Johnson, the sixth overall pick of the 2025 draft, leads the unit alongside veteran and three-time All-Star Khris Middleton, along with Bilal Coulibaly, Bub Carrington and Deandre Ayton who are quite decent pieces as second unit players. 

If there is one thing this team does well, it is score the ball, and Washington has already shown flashes of how exciting it can be in the preseason, with Young pushing the pace at every opportunity that he could get.

The biggest question for this team will be its health given the injury history of both Young and Davis, and that is a big if for a team that is expected to lean heavily on this pair. If they can stay on the floor, though, there is little reason to believe the Wizards cannot be a dark horse contender in the East.

After years on the outside of the postseason picture, even just fighting for a playoff berth represents real progress for Washington. How far this group goes remains to be seen, but for the first time in a long while, these Wizards are a team that must be taken seriously.