One ankle, 12 points, one-point loss
AJ Dybantsa scored 12 in 15 minutes, hurt his left ankle and left. ESPN lists him day-to-day. The Wizards lost 107-106, in a game that does not count and still hurt.
Source: ESPN box score; Bullets Forever; Basketnews.
Extension deadline: 15 of 23 still waiting
Hoops Rumors counted 23 players eligible for rookie-scale extensions. By deadline morning, 15 had no deal, Bilal Coulibaly among them. Most were not expected to sign before 2027.
Source: Hoops Rumors, 19 October 2026.
Games that count, at last
Bucks at Wizards, 7:00 p.m. ET. ESPN gives Washington a 63.3% chance. Optimism is free until the first quarter.
Source: ESPN, VizNBA game page.
Crowd check
10,791 came to see Detroit on October 10. 8,033 came for Brooklyn on October 12. Both in an arena named after a bank.
ESPN box scores, Capital One Arena.
first-round picks in four drafts. The Wizards do not do one at a time.
2023 to 2026 drafts. NBA.com, CBS Sports, Newsweek, Spotrac.
wins in three seasons (15, 18, 17). One 50-win year, paid in installments.
2023-24 to 2025-26 regular seasons. NBA.com, ESPN.
points per 36 minutes: pick No. 21 (Will Riley) against pick No. 1 (AJ Dybantsa).
Preseason, Oct 10, 12, 17. ESPN box scores.
Bilal Coulibaly's cap hit this season, up 27.0%. Final year of the rookie deal, so the meter is running.
2026-27 ($9,240,012 vs $7,275,600). Spotrac.
Two wins in five, average margin minus 3.0. Self-discovery is not cheap.
Detroit Pistons 108 @ Washington Wizards 114 (OT), Oct 10
Brooklyn Nets 131 @ Washington Wizards 122, Oct 12
Washington Wizards 106 @ New Orleans Pelicans 107, Oct 17
2026-27 preseason, margin = Wizards points minus opponent points. Source: ESPN (last five results, preview). Box scores: ESPN.
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Two games in three, the seven picks played more than half the minutes.
A youth movement, with adult supervision from Trae Young, Anthony Davis and Deandre Ayton.
Wizards minutes, 2026-27 preseason (ESPN, whole minutes; Detroit game went to overtime, 263 listed). Picks: Dybantsa, Sarr, George, Carrington, Johnson, Riley, Coulibaly. Source: ESPN box scores.
Opportunity is shared out evenly. Results are not.
Dybantsa went first, Sarr second, Johnson sixth, Coulibaly seventh. The draft slot was supposed to rank them.
Three preseason games say the scoring pace runs the other way. Riley, picked 21st, leads at 24.9 per 36 minutes. George, picked 24th, is next at 23.5. Dybantsa is third at 22.9.
Sarr is last at 13.6, though he took 19 rebounds in 69 minutes. Points miss that.
All of this is three games with rounded minutes. It is also all the evidence there is.
Pick number and scoring pace are not speaking: pick No. 21 leads at 24.9.
Points per 36 minutes = points / minutes x 36, Wizards, 2026-27 preseason, three games (Oct 10, 12, 17). Source: ESPN box scores. Draft slots: NBA.com, CBS Sports, Newsweek, Spotrac.
Headshots: ESPN, as supplied with the box scores.
Dybantsa's fastest scoring night was also his shortest. Then came the ankle.
Dybantsa, 2026-27 preseason (rookie, pick No. 1 in 2026). Injury: ESPN lists him day-to-day, ankle. Source: ESPN box scores; Bullets Forever.
Preseason is noise, and the numbers know it
Coaches rotate in October to look at everyone. Riley's 24.9 comes from 42 minutes in total, including a 7-minute night.
Per 36 assumes a player keeps a pace for 36 minutes, which nobody tested in October. Sarr's job is also rebounds and blocks: 19 and 2 in 69 minutes.
And a missed extension deadline is normal. Hoops Rumors expected most of the 15 players to wait until 2027.
Five real games will settle this, or at least annoy it
- Wed 21 Oct, 7:00 p.m. ET: Milwaukee Bucks at Washington Wizards. Dybantsa is day-to-day.
- The Go-Go, the Wizards' G League team, starts on 6 November. First meetings with Detroit, Brooklyn and New Orleans: 9 Nov, 20 Dec, 4 Feb.
- The thesis is wrong if, after five regular-season games and at least 60 minutes played, the No. 1 pick has the best points per 36 of the seven picks.
Source: ESPN schedule data in the VizNBA game pages; Capital City Go-Go. See also the VizNBA editorial desk.
Bilal Coulibaly, pick No. 7, is in the last year of his rookie deal.
Restricted free agency, in one line: other teams can make him an offer, and Washington can match it.
Contract: 4 years, $30,075,132. Source: Spotrac; Hoops Rumors, 19 October 2026.
Where the numbers came from
- ESPN box score: Pistons at Wizards, Oct 10
- ESPN box score: Nets at Wizards, Oct 12
- ESPN box score: Wizards at Pelicans, Oct 17
- ESPN preview: Bucks at Wizards
- Hoops Rumors: deadlines, 19 Oct
- Spotrac: Bilal Coulibaly
- NBA.com: Wizards 2024 picks
- NBA.com: Wizards
- Bullets Forever: finale recap
- Basketnews: Dybantsa update
- Capital City Go-Go: schedule
Photos: Wikimedia Commons (credits linked in each caption). Box scores: ESPN. Standings and records: NBA.com. Method: per 36 = points / minutes x 36, whole minutes from ESPN.
Claims log, short version
27 claims logged, one withdrawn. Box-score numbers (claims 21 to 27), pick slots, contract and deadline rows are Verified. Two rows are Contested, including 2025-26 wins (17 per NBA.com, 18 per one outlet). We used 17.
Not found: Eastern Conference comparison data (preseason has no standings) and any G League assignments (none before 6 November). Single-source items stayed off the page.
Seven first-round picks, one scoreboard
The Wizards have drafted seven players in the first round since 2023. This board asks which of them is scoring, using three preseason box scores and a straight face.
Four numbers to carry around
Seven picks. Fifty wins in three seasons. And a No. 21 pick who scores faster per minute than the No. 1 pick, 24.9 to 22.9.
The week in three lines
One sprained ankle on Friday. One extension deadline on Monday. One real game on Wednesday, which is when the jokes stop counting.
Two wins in five
The Wizards lost by an average of 3.0 points across their last five games. It is preseason, so nobody is allowed to be upset, but nobody is stopping us.
The kids are on the floor
The seven picks played 147, 137 and 118 minutes in three games. That is more than half the minutes in two of them.
Draft order, meet scoring pace
Pick No. 21, Will Riley, scores at 24.9 per 36 minutes. Pick No. 2, Alex Sarr, scores at 13.6, though he also took 19 rebounds.
The night the story turned
AJ Dybantsa scored 28.8 per 36 minutes in New Orleans, his fastest night. It was also his shortest: 15 minutes, then the left ankle.
What it means for development
Minutes are being shared out. Results are not following draft order. Three games is a small sample, so hold the opinion loosely.
The case against us
Preseason rotations are noise, per-36 ignores rebounds, and a missed extension deadline is normal. We checked.
The oldest pick has a clock
Bilal Coulibaly was pick No. 7 in 2023. This is his last rookie-deal season, with a 27.0% bigger cap hit and a deadline already behind him.
What would prove us wrong
If the No. 1 pick leads the seven in scoring pace after five real games, we owe the Wizards an apology. Tip is Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Sources, and what we could not find
Every number traces to an ESPN box score or a linked source. The Eastern Conference comparison and G League assignments are missing because the data does not exist yet.