The Washington Wizards appear to have the bleakest outlook out of all NBA franchises at the moment. Not only are they stuck paying Bradley Beal, a solid All-Star caliber player for sure, yet is unable to guarantee a playoff appearance for his team, around $50 million until 2027, they also have little in the way of exciting young prospects. It's no wonder that Kristaps Porzingis, after tasting a modicum of success back with the Dallas Mavericks, is feeling frustrated with the Wizards' continued tumble down the standings.
After the Wizards lost their 10th straight game in a 119-117 heartbreaker against the Los Angeles Lakers, Kristaps Porzingis couldn't help but be salty, clearly flustered by the way his team just couldn't seem to get the job done for almost three weeks now.
“I felt like they were not at our level,” Porzingis said, per the Washington Post. “We just lost the game. Obviously LeBron did his thing and played well, but — some mental mistakes from us. I don’t know what to say. It’s tough, it’s tough, it’s tough.”
The Wizards had golden chances to take the game, or, at the very least, preserve the tie for a chance at an overtime win, but ended up blowing both opportunities. Deni Avdija almost stole the ball off a poor pass from LeBron James, but the Lakers recovered the ball, ending up with an uncontested Thomas Bryant dunk that gave them the lead.
Washington had no timeouts remaining, so Kyle Kuzma had to run the ball down all the way from the backcourt. Kuzma proceeded to barf up a contested three over his old pal LeBron James, which just clanked off the glass and the side of the rim as the buzzer sounded.
Nonetheless, Kristaps Porzingis knows that no team in the league will feel sorry for them, so they will have to be the ones to dig themselves out of the hole they find themselves in at the moment.
“But, yeah, we’re going to get out of it. […] Nobody wants to be in this position, but we’re going to have to find a way out, to dig our way out of this,” Porzingis added.
The road ahead for the Wizards isn't getting any easier, as they try to get back to winning ways when they take on the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night.