Complete 2018 NBA offseason grades for all 30 teams

Washington Wizards

Key additions: Troy Brown Jr. (draft), Issuf Sanon (draft), Austin Rivers (trade), Jeff Green (free agency), Thomas Bryant (claimed off waivers), Dwight Howard (free agency)

Key subtractions: Marcin Gortat (trade), Mike Scott (free agency)

We’re rapidly approaching “blow this team up” territory. John Wall‘s injury problems obviously held the Washington Wizards back last year, but it’s becoming clear his backcourt partnership with Bradley Beal — who seems ready to blossom in his own right — is not enough to elevate this team to serious contention for the Eastern crown.

Getting rid of Marcin Gortat was a step in the right direction to alleviate some of Washington’s infamous locker room tension, and doing so for Austin Rivers helped a bench in desperate need of scoring. Unfortunately, the Wizards also lost Mike Scott, brought in Jeff Green (who is never the answer, despite everyone continuing falling for him as the answer) and replaced the Polish Hammer with Dwight Howard.

Howard is still a good rebounder and might even be an underrated big man now, but he’s not the rim protector he once was and he’s torn apart every locker room he’s been in over the last six years (four of them, to be exact). Unless he and Wall are on the same page as a pick-and-roll dynamic duo, this isn’t going to go well.

With the Wizards making luxury tax payments on a middling roster, it was unrealistic to expect them to pull off some blockbuster move for a star. Their viability may come down to whether Wall, Beal and Otto Porter Jr. can finally put it all together in 2018-19 as a legitimate Big 3 … with Dwight Howard anchoring them. Yikes.

Grade: C-