OKC Thunder vs. Washington Wizards, 2019-20 team preview
Having dashed the hopes of opposing teams the Washington Wizards extended Bradley Beal and are expected to be a lottery team. How will they matchup versus the OKC Thunder this season?
It was a rough season for the Washington Wizards. John Wall had surgery ending his season and then an accident at home caused an Achilles rupture leading to another surgery that in all likelihood will cause him to miss the entirety of this coming season.
As a result, the Wizards missed the postseason and ended up trading Otto Porter Jr. a player owner Ted Leonsis had said was untouchable less than a week prior.
This offseason became all about superstar duos pairing up and the irony is Wall and Beal were long considered one of the top duos in the league. With Wall on the shelf, many teams presumed Bradley Beal wouldn’t agree to an extension which would open the window for a trade.
By virtue of signing that extension and the semantics of the deal, Beal cannot be traded this season. This doesn’t mean Beal won’t eventually be traded. But for teams with hopes of adding a star to push them over the top in pursuit of the 2020 championship that option is off the table.
As for the Wizards, they are lottery bound with a superstar lying in wait of his backcourt partner to heal and the team to figure out a way to expedite becoming relevant again.
The Basics:
2018-19 Record: 32-50
Lottery Seed: Ninth seed
Head Coach: Scott Brooks begins his fourth season as the bench boss.
Points per game: 10th (114.0) | Opponent points per game: 29th (115.9)
Pace: 9th (101.4) | Offensive Rating: 14th (111.1) | Defensive Rating: 28th (113.9)
ranked
Vegas Odds:
Win-Loss: 27 games
Odds to NBA Title: +33344
Odds to Win Conference: +10678
* Odds courtesy of The Action Network.
The OKC Thunder split the regular-season series against the Wizards. Next up, let’s look at the offseason changes made by Washington and review what to expect when the team’s tipoff versus each other in their two contests.