The Washington Wizards drew criticism from Tony Kornheiser earlier this week, but were somewhat vindicated this week while the vision paints a different picture than illustrated on ESPN.
The Washington Wizards enter the All Star break standing at 14-39, a five-win improvement from this point last season, but if you ask ESPN's Tony Kornheiser, there's questions with the direction of the franchise.
"Everybody should be fired. Nobody has been fired because this is obviously the plan. They just traded healthy players for Trae Young and Anthony Davis - big names who are hurt, haven't played a minute. I'm not sure they will ever play a minute for the Wizards," Kornheiser said during Wednesday's show.
Of course, the comments come across as somewhat tone deaf to the reality of where the team stands given general manager Michael Winger noted last month that the Wizards were complete with the deconstruction phase of the rebuild. Washington's moves to send six players - five of whom were on expiring contracts - in exchange for a pair of veterans with 14 combined All-Star appearances aides the development of a team littered with young talent. Add in three lost second round picks, a very late 2026 first round pick and a top-20 protected 2030 pick, the moves elevated both team expectations and fan interest ahead of a pivotal 2026-27 season.
Sure, results have been far from optimal from a fan perspective, but pointing to a 47-170 overall record over the last three seasons is lazy criticism when assessing the future of the organization.
But in case perspective wasn't enough, the Wizards were vindicated from the criticism after the NBA announced punishments on Thursday for two other NBA teams suspected of tanking.
The Utah Jazz were fined $500,000 and the Indiana Pacer $100,000 after the league tolerated that prioritizing draft position over winning "undermines the foundation of NBA competition" before adding that moves that "compromise the integrity of our games" will lead to punishment.
The news came after Utah benched both Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. for the entire fourth quarter both last Saturday and on Monday before head coach Will hardy admitted he didn't consider playing either player late in the game. Indiana, meanwhile, was fined after three players including Pascal Siakam didn't play against the Utah Jazz back on Feb. 3 after the league found the trio "could have played under the medical standard in the policy."
Washington? Nope. No punishment.
Wednesday marked the first game back since Jan. 29 for Tre Johnson, one of three Wizards in action on Friday night, the same night that Jaden Hardy made his official debut with the team despite Cleveland taking the game convincingly.
Of course, just hours earlier, the team announced that Alex Sarr would miss approximately two weeks - including Friday's Rising Stars game - due to a hamstring injury that also sidelined him in Wednesday's road loss against the Cavaliers.
While Kornheiser expressed pessimism that either will suit up for the team, general manager Will Dawkins has been consistent that both Trae Young and Anthony Davis will be re-assessed during and following the All Star break with Davis having a key visit with the team over the next week.
"That's a big appointment for us to kind of see where his progress is at. And after that, after the All Star break, he'll return to DC and be here with the team," Dawkins said.
For Washington, the 2025-26 season marked what was viewed to be as the end of the rebuild with Sarr, Carrington, Kyshawn George and Bilal Coulibaly all still on rookie contracts as Michael Winger noted the next 6-to-18 months mark a period of questions. There's a reason why the Wizards have been discussed as one of the NBA's trade deadline winners after acquiring two marquee stars capable of building on growing fan interest, giving Kornheiser a chance to change his tune about the organization maybe as early as next season.