With about a month left before the NBA season tips off, EuroBasket behind us, and meaningless preseason games still ahead, Media Days are just around the corner. For a brief moment, all the issues and contract disputes will be forgotten as players and coaches deliver overly optimistic statements.

It’s the perfect time to indulge in the NBA writer’s favorite pastime: ranking all 30 teams heading into the season. A reminder: no one can actually predict the future. Later in this project, we’ll identify which teams look like genuine contenders. Still, it’s worth remembering that just last season, most analysts refused to label the Indiana Pacers as contenders until they pushed Oklahoma City to a Game 7 in the Conference Finals.

We are looking at the league in the present. But this season will bring dramatic trades (though it’s hard to imagine another Luka Doncic to the Lakers type of shocker), season ending injuries, coaching changes, and maybe even heavy disciplinary penalties (the Clippers? Why them?).

Starting today, we’ll roll out a full preview of every team in the league. Some articles will feature videos, others won’t, but always with analysis, projections, and a few educated guesses. Because, like everyone else, the only thing we can truly predict is the past.

At the moment, It’s hard to say whether the Washington Wizards will end up with the worst record in the NBA this season. They face some stiff competition in the race to the bottom. What’s clear, though, is that they’ll be firmly in the mix for next year’s top draft prospects, Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, and Cameron Boozer. Around the league, teams that struck out on the No. 1 pick last spring have doubled down on their tanking efforts, cutting away almost anything that might accidentally help them win.

The Wizards didn’t have much left to strip down in the first place. Kyle Kuzma and Jonas Valančiūnas were gone a year ago, Khris Middleton is just a shadow of his former champion caliber self, and CJ McCollum is mainly on the roster because his contract expires. With Jordan Poole sent to New Orleans in that deal, Washington’s young core will have more minutes and more touches, a necessary step for a roster that’s still deep in developmental mode.

The key question for the franchise is simple: which of these prospects can be an actual building block? Bilal Coulibaly, still recovering from an injury, had a rough EuroBasket for France, scoring zero points in the round of 16 against Georgia, just four points against Israel, and three against Poland.

Alex Sarr bounced back from a 0 for 15 Summer League game and was better than expected (an alarming remark for a 2nd pick in the draft), but a 45.7% effective field goal percentage remains underwhelming.

Bub Carrington showed flashes, but it’s too early to tell whether he’s a starter level point guard on a playoff team. Cam Whitmore, picked up from Houston for next to nothing, and rookie Trae Johnson could put up numbers in the vacuum, but the average age of this group is closer to a college roster than an NBA one.

The one player who was trending toward becoming a legitimate starter, and maybe more, was Deni Avdija. On a team-friendly deal, he could have been part of the foundation, but the Wizards dealt him to Portland last summer for more draft capital.

Their timeline for real success is still years away, and nothing about this season's roster suggests otherwise.