Washington Wizards
"Washington Bullets" redirects here.
For the song by The Clash, see Washington Bullets (song).
The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division.
The team plays its home games at the Capital One Arena, in the [[Chinatown_(Washington,_D.C.
)|Chinatown]] neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
The franchise was established in 1961 as the Chicago Packers based in Chicago, Illinois, and were renamed to Chicago Zephyrs the following season.
In 1963, they relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, and became the Baltimore Bullets, taking the name from a previous team of the same name.
In 1973, the team changed its name to the Capital Bullets to reflect their move to the Washington metropolitan area, and then to Washington Bullets in the following season.
In 1997, they rebranded themselves as the Wizards.
The Wizards have appeared in four NBA Finals, and won in 1978.
They have had a total of 28 playoff appearances, won four conference titles (1971, 1975, 1978, 1979), and seven division titles (1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1979, 2017).
Their best season came in 1975 with a record of 60–22.
Wes Unseld is the only player in franchise history to become the MVP (1969), and win the Finals MVP award (1978).
Four players (Walt Bellamy, Terry Dischinger, Earl Monroe, and Wes Unseld) have won the Rookie of the Year award.
Franchise history
Season-by-season record
List of the last five seasons completed by the Wizards.
For the full season-by-season history, see List of Washington Wizards seasons.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, % = Winning Percentage;
| Season | GP | W | L | W–L% | Finish | Playoffs |
| 2015–16 | 82 | 41 | 41 | .500 | 4th, Southeast | Did not qualify |
| 2016–17 | 82 | 49 | 33 | .598 | 1st, Southeast | Lost in Conference Semifinals, 3–4 (Celtics) |
| 2017–18 | 82 | 43 | 39 | .524 | 2nd, Southeast | Lost in First Round, 2–4 (Raptors) |
| 2018–19 | 82 | 32 | 50 | .390 | 4th, Southeast | Did not qualify |
| 2019–20 | 73 | 25 | 47 | .347 | 3rd, Southeast | Did not qualify |
Team name, logos and uniforms
After moving from Chicago in 1963, the then-Baltimore Bullets used red and navy colors as part of the team's logos and uniforms.
In 1969, the club changed the colors to blue and orange.
The red, white and blue colors returned as part of the franchise's iconic uniforms beginning with the 1973–74 season, coinciding with the team's move to Landover, Maryland to become the Capital Bullets.
Those uniforms also featured large horizontal stripes on the chest of the jerseys, and three stars on the side panels of the shorts.
The uniforms were kept when they changed their location identifier a year later to the Washington Bullets.
The Bullets kept the "Stars and Stripes" uniform until 1987, although they made a minor tweak prior to the 1985–86 season with additional thin stripes, the "Bullets" logo on the right leg, and thin shorts stripes replacing the three stars.
In 1987, the Bullets changed their logo and uniforms, going with red uniforms on the road and white uniforms at home.
With the exception of a switch to block lettering and numbers before the 1990–91 season (switching over from the Serpentine font used for both elements, with the player name on back rendered in lower case as well), the Bullets kept these uniforms until 1997.
In 1997, the then-team owner Abe Pollin decided to change the club's nickname from Bullets to Wizards.
The reasoning behind the name change was because Pollin did not want the team's name to continue to be associated with any violent connotations.
The name change also included new logos, colors and uniforms, coinciding with the team's move to the new MCI Center.
The new team's colors were blue, bronze and black.
The primary logo depicted a wizard conjuring a basketball with a quarter moon.
In 2007, the Wizards made minor modifications on their team jerseys and logos.
To accommodate the gold–black alternate jerseys they introduced the previous season along with the design change on the Verizon Center floor, they changed their secondary team colors from bronze to metallic gold, and the player's name on the back of the jersey was changed from white/blue with bronze trim to gold (blue on home uniforms) with a change in lettering; the road uniform name lettering changed back to white with gold trim before the 2010–11 season.
On May 10, 2011, the Wizards unveiled a new color scheme, uniforms, and logo.
David Safren, Pat Sullivan, and Michael Glazer were the product designers for the new jerseys which include the Washington Monument as an alternate logo.
The team of product designers was led by Jessie Caples, who made most of the design decisions.
James Pinder was also an essential part of the team, as he helped to engineer the jerseys to meet the players' standards.
The team reverted to its traditional red, white and blue colors, which are the colors of the U.S. flag.
The uniforms are based very closely on those worn from 1974 to 1987, during the team's glory years.
Leonsis said the throwback to the old Bullets' uniforms was intentional; the only difference between those uniforms and the current ones is the team name on the jerseys.
The colors were also used by Leonsis' other franchises, the Capitals and the Mystics, who adopted to those colors in 2007 and 2011, respectively.
On July 23, 2014, the Wizards unveiled a new alternate uniform.
The uniform is similar to the club's road set, with the navy and red colors switched, so that navy is the predominant color instead of red.
On April 15, 2015, the Wizards unveiled a new primary logo.
The new logo features the Washington Monument ball logo set in a roundel, with the striping pattern from the team's uniforms, three stars (each representing Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, similar to that of the NHL's Capitals), and the team's wordmarks.
The team also said it would immediately discontinue the use of the wizard/partial moon logo, which had been used since 1997.
On September 30, 2015, the Wizards unveiled a new alternate uniform.
Called the "Baltimore Pride" uniform, the uniform was intended to be worn for six select games during the Wizards' 2015–16 season.
On September 8, 2016, the Wizards released a second white uniform to honor the United States Armed Forces.
The side stripes pay homage to the American flag.
The Wizards kept their existing uniforms (minus the two alternate uniforms) when Nike took over as uniform supplier in 2017.
Along with the white "Association", red "Icon" and navy "Statement" uniforms, a "City" uniform was also released as part of the collection.
The 2017–18 "City" uniform featured a white base, "The District of Columbia" wordmark in navy and numbers in white.
The uniform paid tribute to the Washington Monument.
The "City" uniform for 2018–19 was similar to the previous set, but with a black base, white letters and orange trim.
The uniform paid homage to the National Mall at night.
A red version of the 2017–18 "City" uniform served as the team's "Earned" uniform, which was a reward for making the 2018 playoffs.
Prior to the 2019–20 season, the navy "Statement" uniform received a minor tweak as the city name was replaced with "The District of Columbia" wordmark previously used on the team's "City" uniforms.
For the Wizards' 2019–20 "City" uniform, they brought back the white alternate uniform design worn in the 2016–17 season, but with the "dc" alternate logo in front and red numbers.
The same design was carried over to the 2020–21 "City" uniform, but with a grey base.
Home arenas
- International Amphitheatre (1961–1962)
- Chicago Coliseum (1962–1963)
- Baltimore Civic Center (later the Baltimore Arena, and 1st Mariner Arena now Royal Farms Arena) (1963–1973, occasional games in 1990s)
- US Airways Arena (originally Capital Centre) (1973–November 1997)
- Capital One Arena (formerly MCI Center and Verizon Center) (December 1997–present)
Players
Current roster
Head coaches
Main article: List of Washington Wizards head coaches
Retained draft rights
The Wizards hold the draft rights to the following unsigned draft picks who have been playing outside the NBA.
A drafted player, either an international draftee or a college draftee who is not signed by the team that drafted him, is allowed to sign with any non-NBA teams.
In this case, the team retains the player's draft rights in the NBA until one year after the player's contract with the non-NBA team ends.
This list includes draft rights that were acquired from trades with other teams.
| Draft | Round | Pick | Player | Pos. | Nationality | Current team | Note(s) | Ref |
|---|
Retired numbers
| Washington Wizards retired numbers | ||||
| No. | Player | Position | Tenure | Retired |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Earl Monroe | G | 1967–1971 | December 1, 2007 |
| 11 | Elvin Hayes | F | 1972–1981 | November 20, 1981 |
| 25 | Gus Johnson | F | 1963–1972 | December 13, 1986 |
| 41 | Wes Unseld | C | 1968–1981 | November 3, 1981 |
| 45 | Phil Chenier | G | 1971–1979 | March 23, 2018 |
Notes:
- All in Baltimore
- 1972–1973 in Baltimore
- Also served as coach (1987–1994)
- 1968–1973 in Baltimore
- Also served as Bullets/Wizards television color analyst (1984–2017)
- 1971–1973 in Baltimore
Basketball Hall of Famers
| Washington Wizards Hall of Famers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | ||||
| No. | Name | Position | Tenure | Inducted |
| 41 | Wes Unseld | C/F | 1968–1981 | 1988 |
| 10
33 |
Earl Monroe | G | 1967–1972 | 1990 |
| 11 | Elvin Hayes | C/F | 1972–1981 | 1990 |
| 21 | Dave Bing | G | 1975–1977 | 1990 |
| 8 | Walt Bellamy | C | 1961–1963 | 1993 |
| 15 | Bailey Howell | F/G | 1964–1966 | 1997 |
| 4 | Moses Malone | C/F | 1986–1988 | 2001 |
| 23 | Michael Jordan | G/F | 2001–2003 | 2009 |
| 25 | Gus Johnson | F/C | 1963–1972 | 2010 |
| 50 | Ralph Sampson | C/F | 1991 | 2012 |
| 30 | Bernard King | F | 1987–1991 | 2013 |
| 2
23 |
Mitch Richmond | G | 1998–2001 | 2014 |
| 24 | Spencer Haywood | F/C | 1981–1983 | 2015 |
| Coaches | ||||
| Name | Position | Tenure | Inducted | |
| Bobby Leonard | Head coach | 1962–1964 | 2014 | |
| Contributors | ||||
| Name | Position | Tenure | Inducted | |
| 44 | Rod Thorn | G | 1963–1964 | 2018 |
Notes:
- He also coached the team in 1987–1994.
- In total, Bellamy was inducted into the Hall of Fame twice – as player and as a member of the 1960 Olympic team.
- In total, Jordan was inducted into the Hall of Fame twice – as player and as a member of the 1992 Olympic team.
- He also played for the team in 1961–1963.
- Thorn was inducted as a contributor.
FIBA Hall of Famers
| Washington Wizards Hall of Famers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | ||||
| No. | Name | Position | Tenure | Inducted |
| 23 | Michael Jordan | G/F | 2001–2003 | 2015 |
| 21 | Fabricio Oberto | C | 2009–2010 | 2019 |
Individual records and awards
Franchise leaders
Bold denotes still active with team.
Italic denotes still active but not with team.
Points scored (regular season) (as of the end of the 2019–20 season)
Other statistics (regular season) (as of the end of the 2019–20 season)
Individual awards
NBA All-Star weekend
Credits to the contents of this page go to the authors of the corresponding Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington Wizards.