Washington Wizards: What to do with the No. 1 pick in the 2020 Draft

As the NBA heads into its hiatus, the Washington Wizards’ focus should be on the draft. What would they do if they landed the number one pick?

The Washington Wizards have held the first overall pick in the NBA draft just four times in franchise history. With it, they’ve selected Walt Bellamy (1961), Bill McGill (1962), Kwame Brown (2001), and most recently John Wall in 2010.

But the NBA has changed how the Draft Lottery operates. It’s no longer a given that one of the top three worst teams will simply be handed the first overall pick. Commissioner Adam Silver implemented the new rules in an attempt to prevent teams’ continued tanking last season.

Now, a team like the Wizards, who are ninth-worst in the league at 24-40, have a 4.5 percent chance at the first overall pick. It’s almost quite literally up for grabs. We saw it last year with the New Orleans Pelicans, who finished with the NBA’s seventh-worst record.

They got the first overall pick, and with it, selected Zion Williamson.

So who will get the first overall pick this year, and more importantly, what will they do with it? The new system makes it more of a toss-up in terms of whether or not teams will hold onto the pick. For example, as of today, the NBA’s seventh-worst record belongs to the Chicago Bulls.

That’s a franchise that’s consistently selected in the lottery over the last few years and could gain a lot by trading away the first overall pick in exchange for some win-now talent. That being said, when thinking of the Washington Wizards, how would they handle such a circumstance?