Washington Wizards NBA preview 2022-23: Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis look to form new duo in DC – CBS Sports

After a forgettable 2021-22 campaign that saw them finish 12th in the Eastern Conference, the Washington Wizards will be looking to bounce back and move up the playoff table this season. The team has missed the playoffs in three of the past four seasons, and when it did in 2021, it lost to the 76ers in five games in the first round.

Wes Unseld Jr. is entering his second season as the team’s coach, and he’ll be leading a very different roster than the team had on opening night last season. The Wizards answered a major question this offseason by signing of All-Star guard Bradley Beal to a whopping five-year, $251 million supermax deal. Questions about Beal’s long-term future in Washington have been lingering for what seemed like years, but they can’t be put to bed — for now at least.

The team also made other additions during the offseason, including Will Barton, Monte Morris, Taj Gibson and Delon Wright. Time will tell if these changes will be enough to propel Washington into playoff contention. In the meantime, here’s a quick look at Washington’s offseason and a preview of what things will look like when the 2022-23 season ends.

Key changes

Listing

Top of the key: Bouncing back the season for Beal

When it comes to getting the ball in the basket, there aren’t many players in the league better than Bradley Beal. He averaged more than 30 points per game in the 2019-20 and 20-21 seasons, and he was the league’s second leading scorer behind Steph Curry in that 20-21 campaign. He also boasts a respectable 37% career average at long range. Last year, however, he had a bad season.

He was limited to just 40 games in total due to injury concerns, as he underwent season-ending surgery on his left wrist in February. In games he has played, his scoring has dropped eight points per performance from the previous season – to 23.2 from 31.3 – and he is at a career low of 30% at long range. Some of his struggles could probably be tied to the wrist injury, and now that he’s healthy, the Wizards will be looking for him to get back to full fitness. The fact that they signed him to a whopping five-year extension shows the Wizards believe Beal still has a lot of elite basketball in him, and they’ll need him to capitalize on that if the team wants to make some real noise this season.

Next stop: New tandem in town

Other than locking Beal in for the foreseeable future, the biggest move the Wizards have made this calendar year was trading for Kristaps Porzingis in February. Porzingis is a former All-Star who still has two years and nearly $70 million remaining on his current contract. The duo of Porzingis and Beal are central to Washington’s success this season, at least, so it will be extremely interesting to see how they fit together.

We had no idea how the two could play together last season as Beal didn’t play in a single game after Porzingis was traded to Washington. In the 17 games he appeared in for the Wizards after the trade, Porzingis averaged 22.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.5 blocks per game. Together, he and Beal could provide Washington with a pretty powerful punch on the offensive side. Keep an eye on the chemistry between the two players at the start of the season, as that could serve as a pretty good predictor of how the whole campaign might go for the Wizards.

One more thing: the role of the recruit

After being selected 10th overall in the NBA Draft in June, it will be interesting to see how much game time Johnny Davis receives as a rookie. As a sophomore at Wisconsin last year, Davis averaged 19.7 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists per performance. He was named Big Ten Player of the Year and seemed like the type of guy who could come in and contribute right away, in some capacity, at the NBA level. We’ll have to wait and see if he’s able to make it in Washington, but Davis certainly has lofty goals for his professional career.

“The main goal is to win as many games as possible, qualify for the playoffs and win an NBA championship,” Davis said back in June. “Individual accolades will also come, but the main objective is just to win.”

Key games

Mavericks vs. Wizards, November 10: The Wizards don’t have a ton of terribly intriguing games, but this one will have added interest because it will give Porzingis another opportunity to play against the team that traded him earlier this year. Porzingis played against the Mavericks as a member of the Wizards once last season, and he had 24 points and nine rebounds in a blowout win for the Wizards.

Clippers vs. Wizards, December 10: This will be John Wall’s first game against the Wizards as a member of the Clippers. Wall spent the first decade of his career with the Wizards, and he’s still a beloved figure in the community. Wall played twice against the Wizards as a member of the Rockets, but one of those games was in Houston and the other before a limited crowd in Washington during the COVID-19 pandemic. This game should serve as a real homecoming for Wall.

Wizards vs. Nuggets, December 14: The Wizards and Nuggets traded four players in June. Wizards sent Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith to the Nuggets in exchange for Monte Morris and Will Barton. So it will be a game of revenge, of sorts, for these four players.