r/washingtonwizards

Per Josh Robbins of the Athletic: "Brian Keefe said Alex Sarr will play tonight. It’ll be Sarr’s preseason debut this year after his mid-June surgery to repair a fracture in his right foot. Tre Mann (general soreness) will not play, Keefe said."

Greg Finberg, Wizards Central: "Khris Middleton (ramp up), Jamir Watkins (ACL) & Tristan Vukcevic are out."

Wizards 2-0 in the preseason.

It’s either you have it or not. He just doesn’t have it. If you’re not going to bring something on offense then your defense better be top tier. Yet, his defense isn’t. With his extension looming I think he sign it to an extremely team friendly deal or trade him. I’m out!

I live 15 minutes away from Philly and now need the Monumental Sports app just to watch the local broadcasts.

So it's either pay $20 a month to watch JUST the Wizards, $20 to watch all games and have to listen to the other teams announcers when they play the Wizards, or $40 for both.

Sorry, Chris and Drew but I'll miss you guys.

Ted really loves his fans.

Is it just me or does he make watching the games unbearable? He sounds like he really doesn’t want to be there and always somehow finds a way to talk about himself or something completely irrelevant. I’m still mad about Steve Buckhantz but having to listen to this guy torture.

My proposed solution is to make Dave Johnson & Glen Comsor the dual voice of Radio and TV.

Im sick of these fake tough guys. The whole team has anger issues. Dan gilbert owns your whole city. Cant wait for the season to start.

Temperature check - how do people feel about the Monumental app? Not a big fan personally. I wasn't able to watch last night but sounds like the experience hasn't improved much....

The Washington Wizards’ preseason opener at Madison Square Garden illustrated how Bilal Coulibaly now must navigate a brand new world.

Coulibaly started all 115 games he played the last two regular seasons for Washington, but Thursday night, in the Wizards’ 111-109 exhibition victory over the New York Knicks, coach Brian Keefe started Kyshawn George and rookie AJ Dybantsa at the wing spots ahead of Coulibaly. The issue is not that Coulibaly has done anything wrong. The issue is that Washington has improved its overall talent level, making Dybantsa the No. 1 pick in June’s draft, and will employ lineups featuring two bigs instead of three wings.

Coulibaly indeed has reached a potential inflection point to his career. A 2023 first-round draft choice entering the final season of his rookie-scale contract, he is now eligible for an extension. Should he and the Wizards not reach an agreement by Oct. 19, he would be on track to become a restricted free agent during the 2027 offseason.

He remains a young player — he turned 22 in July — but he has a weakness that threatens to diminish the dollar figures of his next contract. Although he already projects as an above-average defender (most likely, he’s the Wizards’ best perimeter defender), he has yet to prove he brings enough on offense to be considered a two-way player. Although he closed last season well, shooting 39 percent from deep in his final 18 games, he had a rough offensive night Thursday, scoring 2 points on 1-of-8 shooting from the field.

George and Dybantsa dazzled at times. George finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Dybantsa added 11 points, two rebounds, two assists and four steals.

Today’s NBA values two-way ability more than ever. In the age of the first and second aprons, teams tend to be leery of allocating large salaries to specialists who can get played off the floor during the playoffs. Tim Hardaway Jr., Duncan Robinson and Corey Kispert, whose best skill is their perimeter shooting and floor spacing, are hindrances on defense in the half court. Defensive specialists whom opposing defenses can ignore, as Coulibaly could become, are liabilities to their teams in half-court offensive situations.

For Coulibaly, it will be crucial to show that he has developed enough offensive skill, such as 3-point shooting, an effective pull-up jumper or playmaking in pick-and-rolls. Without growth on offense, will he ever average 25 minutes per game on a good team or be a significant rotation player during the postseason? He will have the opportunity to answer those questions in the season ahead.

I don’t think this is controversial but JC at some point should get more playing time than Bilal. Bilal everything still looks so raw, there potential there but it’s been 3 years and we’re tryin got win we can’t wait for you to keep forcing drives and turning the ball over. JC is so solid both ends of the floor, I have more faith in him that shot is going in rather than Bilal where everytime he shoots it’s like everyone get back on defense. Idk It’s one preseason game but I hope JC get more minutes and Bilal should be the one he gets in front of.

Hope my phonetic spellings make sense

AJ Dybantsa recorded 4 steals during his NBA preseason debut for the Washington Wizards on October 8, 2026. The Wizards defeated the New York Knicks by a score of 111–109 at Madison Square Garden

Can't find any reports on why.

I thought he had to wear them for the rest of his career, per last years Mavs report.