Top Five Decisions Of Washington Wizards 2026 Offseason

As the always chaotic NBA offseason is coming to a close, teams are gearing up for training camp and preseason as we are less than two months away from regular season action. 

While there are still some big name free agents available on the open market, the Washington Wizards more than likely have their finalized 15-man roster for the upcoming season. 

In what was arguably the most impactful and important offseason in team history, GM Will Dawkins and company did a total revamp of the roster and have put the Wiz kids in prime position to compete for an NBA Championship. 

With that being said, let's break down the top five moves/decisions that Dawkins and the front office made this offseason. 

Heading into the offseason, Washington had two big questions they had to answer: Who to select number one overall and who to extend out of Trae Young/Anthony Davis. 

While both are superstar caliber players, it's quite evident that one is on the decline while the other still had untaped potential. If Washington were to extend Anthony Davis to the potential four-year, $275M contract that he was eligible for, it would've significantly handicapped Washington financially going forward. 

I believe holding off on the Davis extension was the right thing to do, as Washington can now focus on retaining parts of their bright and exciting young core, rather than give $200+ million dollars to an aging, injury prone big man. 

Washington was given the number one overall pick for the first time since 2010 in one of the most talented NBA Drafts in recent memory. Luckily for Washington, they couldn't go wrong with their first overall selection as the top four players in the class are all projected to be future stars. 

Washington ultimately selected freshman phenom AJ Dybantsa number one overall, and have already seen the potential a talent that he flashes. Throughout two games of Summer League, Dybantsa averaged 25 points while being a menace on the defensive end. 

While Washington couldn't go wrong, they selected the talent that has the potential to be not only the face of their franchise, but the face of the NBA. 

I alluded to this earlier, but Washington's decision to extend Trae Young over Anthony Davis was by far the correct move. While the four-year, $212.8M dollar contract extension is a lot of money, Young has all the talent in the world to get back to being one of the leagues best point guards at only 27 years old.

Additionally, Washington's current roster is by far the most talented group Young has ever played with, and I believe he will take a massive leap back into superstar status with Washington's exciting young core. 

Lastly, Washington has had a carousel door of point guards come through ever since John Wall got traded back in 2019. Now, Washington won't have to worry about finding a franchise point guard for the next four seasons. 

One of Washington's biggest weaknesses in the Dawkins era has been rebounding, but a lot of that issue got solved this offseason when Washington acquired big man DeAndre Ayton from the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Jaden Hardy and two future second-round draft picks. 

While Ayton never reached his full potential, he has served as an interior anchor and strong paint presence for multiple contending teams throughout his career. Dawkins saw Ayton as a fit to be Washington's backup big and jumped all over the opportunity. 

Ayton averaged 12.5 PPG and 8 RPG with Los Angeles last season, and is expected to play a similar role here in Washington. 

It was quite evident that D'Angelo Russell had no business in being in Washington's long term plans, and Washington had no business in Russell being in their long term plans. So, Washington traded Russell to the Memphis Grizzlies as a part of a six-team trade. 

However, Washington remained in the market for a backup point guard who could compete for minutes alongside third year guard Bub Carrington. Washington made an attempt to bring back Russell Westbrook before he retired, and they also expressed interest in Gabe Vincent and Demar Derozan. 

However, Washington ultimately settled on guard Tre Mann, as they acquired him from Charlotte in a massive five-team trade that saw Julian Reese be rerouted to Charlotte. 

Mann is an exciting player who is coming off a down year, but has flashed serious potential as a scoring option off the bench. Unfortunately, Mann has struggled to stay healthy as he's only played in 107 games since the start of the 2023-24 season.

With that being said, the potential is through the roof, as he averaged 14.1 PPG on 43.5% FG and 40% from deep in only 13 games played during the 2024-25 season. If Mann can stay healthy, Washington has a really fun player off the bench.