The Washington Wizards are mired in another rebuild, but even with the low expectations set for the club, this has been a disappointing start to the season. With their 124-114 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on SaturdayThe Wizards finished the month of November winless at 0-14.
Washington becomes the 16th team in NBA story of going winless for an entire month and now you’ve done it – is that the right word in this scenario? — the feat in consecutive seasons. Last season, in the midst of a franchise-record 16-game losing streak, they went 0-12 in February.
“The things we’re going through really test you mentally, physically and emotionally and you have to keep reminding yourself that really good players and great players in this league, and even in life, don’t run away.” tough times,” Wizards forward Corey Kispert said. saying earlier this week. “Tough times like this that we go through is what builds strong character and helps you keep going.”
Although the season hasn’t even reached the quarterfinals, this Wizards team is already entering historically bad territory.
They are 2-16, which puts them in last place, and their .111 winning percentage translates to nine wins over the course of the season. In NBA history, the 1973 Philadelphia 76ers are the only team to win fewer than 10 games in an 82-game season. In terms of winning percentage, only those Sixers (.110) and the 2012 Charlotte Bobcats (.106) have finished a season with worse records.
While Saturday’s game was more competitive than the 10-point margin would suggest, it was the 13th time during this losing streak that the Wizards lost by double digits. For the season, their net rating is -14.1, not only the worst in the league, but one of the worst ever.
Team efficiency data on the NBA statistics website dates back to the 1996-97 season, and during that span the only team to post a worse net rating over the course of a season was the 2012 Bobcats, who They finished 7-59 with a – 15.0 Net Rating in the lockout-shortened campaign.
The bad news for the Wizards is that the road won’t get any easier. They have the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers, followed by the Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets. Barring a major upset, the losing streak will soon reach 17 games, the longest in franchise history.
