Some might quibble over Washington’s placement, since this core lacks the league-wide accolades of the few right behind it. Where the Wizards can counter, though, is with the documented growth of their group already and the vast untapped potential still ahead of it.
They are overloaded with recent first-round picks to the point that the idea of listing them all carries the worry of not having enough digital ink to cover the lot: AJ Dybantsa (No. 1 in 2026), Tre Johnson (No. 6 in 2025), Will Riley (No. 21 in 2025), Alex Sarr (No. 2 in 2024), Bub Carrington (No. 14 in 2024), Kyshawn George (No. 24 in 2024) and Bilal Coulibaly (No. 7 in 2023). Tristan Vukčević (No. 42 in 2023) isn’t offically part of that group, but he might be a first-rounder in a re-draft.
You know what that core all has in common, besides the draft pedigree? They’re all under the age of 24. And save for Dybantsa, a possible Tracy McGrady clone, they all have encouraging track records, too. The core kind of has everything: ignitable shooting, slippery shot-creation, electric slashing, defensive versatility, quick-strike scoring.
In fact, is has more (by quantity) than even the No. 1 ranked core on this list. It’s just missing a legitimate superstar, which is kind of a big deal when our gold medalists happen to have a 22-year-old pushing for best-player-on-the-planet status and two 21-and-under sidekicks showing star trajectories of their own.