2025-26 Lineup Thread -- How's it shakin out?

[Kanyewest]

It is not a hill to die on, it is a fact. Eddy has 8 years of experience. I can’t say how many years of experience Bub has, but it has probably been 13 years. And the quality of bub’s opponents has been far superior to Edey’s.

It's not just experience. It's size, strength, and the coordination that results after growing into your body. It's also 15 years of watching drop bigs fail defensively in the playoffs in the pace and space era.

Okay, you say it is 15 years of watching bigs fail: name me a single nba player in the history of the nba, who posted ws48 as comparatively low as Bilal’s his first 2 seasons, and went on to become a good player.

Boris Diaw.

Kemba Walker's rookie season was also worse than Bilal by that metric and entered the league as an older player than Bilal in either of those seasons.

It may be that Bilal's metric is low because the Wizards have had two seasons with a combined total of 33 wins.

[Dat2U]

G C.J. McCollum ... Bub Carrington ... A.J. Johnson
G Tre Johnson ... Marcus Smart ... Will Riley
F Bilal Coulibaly ... Kyshawn George ... Corey Kispert
F Khris Middleton ... Cam Whitmore ... Justin Champagnie
C Alex Sarr ... Kelly Olynyk ... Tristan Vukcevic (TW)

G Jamir Watkins (TW)
F Jaylen Martin (TW)
F Dillon Jones

[payitforward]

We are at 15 regular roster players plus an option on Rishaun Holmes.

It seems unlikely that we are done making moves.

[trast66]

I hope we find a good situation for Kispert in a trade soon, seems like a good guy.

Looking at the lineup Richaun would be good to have back.

No chance we lose the FRP to Knicks.

[NatP4]

We are at 15 regular roster players plus an option on Rishaun Holmes.

It seems unlikely that we are done making moves.

I’m guessing Kispert is moved before the season starts. Champagnie is moved at the deadline for 2nd round picks, similar to the Jared Butler trade.

They are going to be setup just about as good as any team in the league going into the 2026 offseason:

Carrington/AJ Johnson
Tre Johnson/Riley
Whitmore/George
Coulibaly
Sarr

100 million in cap space, hopefully a real good shot at landing a 1st option guy in Dybantsa/Boozer/Peterson, multiple 1sts in 2026&2029, pick swaps in 2026/2028/2030.

I would expect them to sign our version of Hartenstein at C in 2026 or 2027 and slide Sarr down as a full time PF/small ball C.

[NatP4]

Hoping for this:

Peterson/Carrington
Tre Johnson/Riley
Coulibaly/George
Sarr/Whitmore
(Hartenstein type player)/Sarr small ball C

[Northwest Roddy]

Remember when OkC didn’t play Al Horford the final thirty or so games the year he was there. They wanted to tank and he wanted to extend his career. I suspect we do that with all the vets that don’t get traded away.

[DukeLecker]

G C.J. McCollum ... Bub Carrington ... A.J. Johnson
G Tre Johnson ... Marcus Smart ... Will Riley
F Bilal Coulibaly ... Kyshawn George ... Corey Kispert
F Khris Middleton ... Cam Whitmore ... Justin Champagnie
C Alex Sarr ... Kelly Olynyk ... Tristan Vukcevic (TW)

G Jamir Watkins (TW)
F Jaylen Martin (TW)
F Dillon Jones

I have a feeling Justin Champagnie will push his way to the top of the forward rotation. He doesn’t have the pedigree the other younger players have, but he’s a solid player and consistent.

[Hibachi_0]

I hope we don't trade Champagnie, if you want to compete in a couple.of years you need players with his production - salary ratio.

With the players we have now, I see the rotation being something similar to:

Bub - AJ - Smart
Tre - McCollum - Kispert
Bilal - Cam - Champagnie
George - Middleton
Sarr - Vuk - Olynyk

Hopefully, at least 2 of Kispert, Smart and Middleton are gone by then. If You can throw Olynyk in there too, but with how thin our frontcourt is I wouldn't mind keeping him around.

[9 and 20]

I think Cam is starting and that was part of the deal in us getting him instead of another team. Champagnie and George are the backup forwards. Middleton hopefully glued to the bench nursing some phantom injury so he can be bought out at midseason. Kispert is traded for seconds and an expiring contracts shortly, I bet.

[payitforward]

I think Cam is starting and that was part of the deal in us getting him instead of another team. ..

Really?
And what would give him that leverage?
How good a player he's been so far?
Only... he's been absolutely terrible so far!

Cam is on the edge; he's close to washing out of the league.

[nate33]

The question on Middleton is his health and his basketball goals going forward. Is he still very prideful and expects to start because he is arguably the best player on the team? Or does he want to preserve his body and set himself up for a midseason trade where he can join a contender?

If it's the former, then he should start until he gets hurt or someone clearly outplays him. If it's the latter, then he should come off the bench for 15-20 minutes a night to pad his stats against second stringers while keeping his minutes low.

The tandem of Middleton and Bilal are pretty easily the best combination of forwards on the roster if Middleton is healthy and wants to start. But if he comes off the bench, I think the tandem of Bilal and Kyshawn makes the most sense given that we will have a lot of offense coming out of McCollum and Tre at guard. Cam should come off the bench and carry the second unit who will need some scoring punch.

I think Champagnie will be relegated to 5th forward at first. Not because he doesn't deserve minutes, but because he is already locked into a 3-year deal and the Wizards need to try and figure out what they have with their other young guys.

[Dat2U]

I think Cam is starting and that was part of the deal in us getting him instead of another team. ..

Really?
And what would give him that leverage?
How good a player he's been so far?
Only... he's been absolutely terrible so far!

Cam is on the edge; he's close to washing out of the league.

I dont get this. He finished his last season at age 20. His advanced numbers looked significantly better than what our drafted prospects have done. So what makes him remarkably different or worse than any of young prospects we already have? I'm not under the illusion that Bilal, Alex or Bub had good seasons either and that was always to be expected as part of the development process.

You think Justin Champagnie is hot stuff, but that is really the maturity & experience from being older and more polished player at 24 yrs old. Doesn't mean he's the best prospect we have or that he's even a core piece. Just imagine what Tre & Will can be in 5 years, Alex & Bilal in 4, Kyshawn & Cam in 3 years. Long term development is what this is all about, who's the best rebounder per minute or efficient low usage role player at the moment means very little long term.

[dckingsfan]

I hope we don't trade Champagnie, if you want to compete in a couple.of years you need players with his production - salary ratio.

With the players we have now, I see the rotation being something similar to:

Bub - AJ - Smart
Tre - McCollum - Kispert
Bilal - Cam - Champagnie
George - Middleton
Sarr - Vuk - Olynyk

Hopefully, at least 2 of Kispert, Smart and Middleton are gone by then. If You can throw Olynyk in there too, but with how thin our frontcourt is I wouldn't mind keeping him around.

Yeah, interesting break down. Or another way to look at it...

G: Smart, Bub, AJ, Tre, Watkins
Wing: Middleton, Kispert, Bilal, George, Champagnie, Whitmore, Jones, Riley
Big: Holmes, Sarr, Olynyk (still don't know what will happen with Vuk)

It is definitely an interesting mix. Middleton, McCollum and Smart will want their minutes, IMO. But can they be backup minutes to keep them happy? Whitmore was upset only receiving 800 minutes last year, how do you balance that against George and Champagnie? You have to play Bilal to see if he is going to breakout, right? This will test for Keefe - possibly the biggest challenge in the NBA.

Riley, Watkins can be in the D league. Not sure if Jaylen Martin still has his two-way.

And yes, the roster imbalance is palpable. Is that what they are counting on to stay in the bottom 6?

[nate33]

Yeah, interesting break down. Or another way to look at it...

G: Smart, Bub, AJ, Tre, Watkins
Wing: Middleton, Kispert, Bilal, George, Champagnie, Whitmore, Jones, Riley
Big: Holmes, Sarr, Olynyk (still don't know what will happen with Vuk)

You forgot to include McCollum

In order of descending ability:
Guards: McCollum, Tre, Smart, Bub, AJ
Forwards: Middleton, Bilal, Champagnie, Kyshawn, Whitmore, Kispert, Jones, Riley
Center: Sarr, Olynyk,
Two-way: Watkins, Jaylen Martin, Vuk?

That's 15 guys already, assuming Watkins goes straight to a 2-way contract and Vuk is on a 2-way if he is retained at all.

That center situation is untenable. Sarr is going to get killed, and sooner or later one or both of him and Olynyk will miss games. We absolutely need one more guy, which means we need to cut or trade a forward.

As I mentioned in the trade thread, an ideal solution would be to package some combination of vets and forwards for one good center prospect. Definitely should have taken Wolf over Riley in the draft.

[DCZards]

I hope we don't trade Champagnie, if you want to compete in a couple.of years you need players with his production - salary ratio.

With the players we have now, I see the rotation being something similar to:

Bub - AJ - Smart
Tre - McCollum - Kispert
Bilal - Cam - Champagnie
George - Middleton
Sarr - Vuk - Olynyk

I think McCollum starts ahead of Tre…at least at the outset of season. I also expect Champagnie to get more minutes than Cam.

Don’t know what to make of the George-Middleton situation. I can see them going either way in terms of starting. I want to lean George but I could see Middleton starting with George (along with Champagnie) getting the bulk of the minutes.

[nate33]

I think McCollum starts ahead of Tre…at least at the outside of season.

I think McCollum starts, but I'm not so sure that Bub will start alongside him. I think it's going to be a training camp battle between Bub and Tre. I suspect Tre will actually win out, but maybe not until the first 10 or so games of the season have gone by.

So it's:

PG McCollum
SG Tre
SF Bilal
PF ?
C Sarr

The PF position will be Middleton if he wants it, or one of Cam or Kyshawn if Middleton prefers to (or can be talked into) come off the bench to conserve his body.

[dckingsfan]

Yeah, interesting break down. Or another way to look at it...

G: Smart, Bub, AJ, Tre, Watkins
Wing: Middleton, Kispert, Bilal, George, Champagnie, Whitmore, Jones, Riley
Big: Holmes, Sarr, Olynyk (still don't know what will happen with Vuk)

You forgot to include McCollum

In order of descending ability:
Guards: McCollum, Tre, Smart, Bub, AJ
Forwards: Middleton, Bilal, Champagnie, Kyshawn, Whitmore, Kispert, Jones, Riley
Center: Sarr, Olynyk,
Two-way: Watkins, Jaylen Martin, Vuk?

That's 15 guys already, assuming Watkins goes straight to a 2-way contract and Vuk is on a 2-way if he is retained at all.

That center situation is untenable. Sarr is going to get killed, and sooner or later one or both of him and Olynyk will miss games. We absolutely need one more guy, which means we need to cut or trade a forward.

As I mentioned in the trade thread, an ideal solution would be to package some combination of vets and forwards for one good center prospect. Definitely should have taken Wolf over Riley in the draft.

Yep, forgot McCollum! Pretty much with you on the descending order. Whitmore is going to throw a fit

And not having any bigs is a feature, no? I guess Holmes won't be extended - I haven't figured that one out. Vuk seems to be saying no on the two-way.

Either way, this is going to be interesting to watch it play out and to see if Keefe can keep things from exploding

[DCZards]

I think McCollum starts, but I'm not so sure that Bub will start alongside him. I think it's going to be a training camp battle between Bub and Tre. I suspect Tre will actually win out, but maybe not until the first 10 or so games of the season have gone by.

Bub is the Zards current and future PG. Tre will be his eventual running mate at SG.

Tre is at his best off-the-ball, running to spots on the floor and getting open, especially from 3. He needs to look to shoot and not be worried about running the offense…that will be Bub’s job.

You can start CJ next to Bub because, unlike Poole, CJ doesn’t need the ball to be effective. Bub can run the offense, which he began to do well late last season when Poole was out.

[doclinkin]

In order of descending ability:
Guards: McCollum, Tre, Smart, Bub, AJ
Forwards: Middleton, Bilal, Champagnie, Kyshawn, Whitmore, Kispert, Jones, Riley
Center: Sarr, Olynyk,
Two-way: Watkins, Jaylen Martin, Vuk?

That's 15 guys already, assuming Watkins goes straight to a 2-way contract and Vuk is on a 2-way if he is retained at all.

That center situation is untenable. Sarr is going to get killed, and sooner or later one or both of him and Olynyk will miss games. We absolutely need one more guy, which means we need to cut or trade a forward.

As I mentioned in the trade thread, an ideal solution would be to package some combination of vets and forwards for one good center prospect. Definitely should have taken Wolf over Riley in the draft.

I think you’ll be surprised to find Riley rated higher by the end of the year. As a guard not a forward. I think we will see his playmaking skills better here than in college. Though I think he will be killing people in the G League for a bit before they’re forced to promote him.

That said unless I missed something we still have Richaun under contract. Seems to me he adds exactly what we need in a short term big.

Granted he’s partially guaranteed, and i count 17 players committed. They’ll have to combine a few in a trade.

I suspect they’d like to ship Kispert for value even if they like his level headedness on the team. With other vets added it’s less of a need.

I think we will tag in to one of these multi team trades though. With one or more of our veterans.