After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Eastern Conference · tip-off October 20

Washington Wizards

Our win estimate next to the market's, the last three seasons, who came and went, and the rotation we expect.

Our estimate

23 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 18 to 28 wins.

The market

36.3 wins

Where the Kalshi yes price for "wins or more" crosses 50%.

Last season

17-65

2025-26 · net rating -11.5 (30th in the NBA)

Our estimate is 12.8 wins below the market.

Treat the gap as a flag, not a verdict. In backtests on 2024-25 and 2025-26 (60 team-seasons) this kind of estimate missed a team's win total by 8.3 wins on average. Last season's wins pulled toward 41 missed by 9.0. Ratings built from games alone said 28 wins for this team.

Two ways to count wins

Our range against the market

The blue bar is the middle 80% of our simulated seasons. The orange line is the market's win total.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 36.3 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 23, middle 80%: 18 to 28 Market 36.3

Where we think they finish in the East

Top 6: 0% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 0.2% Outside the top 10: 100%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
1096¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
1596¢ 100¢ 98¢ 99%
2091¢ 100¢ 96¢ 82%
2585¢ 90¢ 88¢ 36%
3066¢ 70¢ 68¢ 6%
3553¢ 55¢ 54¢ 0%
4036¢ 40¢ 38¢ 0%
4524¢ 30¢ 27¢ 0%
5011¢ 16¢ 14¢ 0%
551¢ 9¢ 5¢ 0%
600¢ 6¢ n/a 0%
650¢ 6¢ n/a 0%

A strike with no bid is treated as unpriced. The market win total is a straight line between the two strikes that straddle 50%.

What the scoreboard said

The last three regular seasons

Ratings are points per 100 possessions. Possessions are estimated from box scores, so treat them as close, not exact. Ranks are out of 30.

2025-26 · 17-65 (30th in wins)

Points per game
112.925th
Allowed per game
124.929th
Offensive rating
108.829th
Defensive rating
120.330th
Net rating
-11.530th

2024-25 · 18-64 (29th in wins)

Points per game
108.027th
Allowed per game
120.429th
Offensive rating
104.930th
Defensive rating
116.927th
Net rating
-12.130th

2023-24 · 15-67 (29th in wins)

Points per game
113.717th
Allowed per game
123.030th
Offensive rating
108.725th
Defensive rating
117.628th
Net rating
-8.927th

Our preseason ratings

Offense
-1.0426th
Defense
+4.5929th
Net, games only
-5.6330th
Roster value
-5.68

Offense, defense and net are points per game against an average team, fitted on every completed game before tip-off (defense: lower is better). Roster value is the on-court net per 48 minutes of the players on the roster list, weighted by minutes.

Who came and who left

Offseason moves

Built from the DraftKings roster list and 2025-26 box scores. Players who left had at least 500 regular-season minutes here last season.

In (7)

  • Deandre Aytonfrom LAL
    27.3 min, 12.5 pts a game
  • Khris Middletonfrom DAL
    22.8 min, 10.2 pts a game
  • Tre Mannfrom CHA
    12.6 min, 5.5 pts a game
  • Anthony Davisfrom DAL
    31.2 min, 20.4 pts a game
  • Reece BeekmanReturningLast played 2024-25 for BKN
2 moredepth and rookies
  • AJ DybantsaRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Felix OkparaRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (3)

  • CJ McCollumnow with ATL
    30.9 min, 18.8 pts a game
  • Marvin Bagley IIInow with DEN
    19.3 min, 10.1 pts a game
  • Sharife Coopernot on a 2026-27 roster we can see
    17.1 min, 8.1 pts a game

The rotation we expect

Top eight by projected minutes

Minutes come from our DFS minutes projection and are not scaled to a 240-minute game. Open a player for three seasons of per-game lines and shooting.

Anthony Davis New here F · age 33 · 32.8 projected min 2025-26: 20 g, 20.4 pts, 11.1 reb, 2.8 ast

2025-26 · DAL

20games
31.2min
20.4pts
11.1reb
FG50.6%169/334
3P27.0%10/37
FT72.8%59/81

2.8 assists a game

2024-25 · DAL/LAL

51games
33.4min
24.7pts
11.6reb
FG51.6%470/910
3P28.2%35/124
FT77.5%286/369

3.5 assists a game

2023-24 · LAL

76games
35.5min
24.7pts
12.6reb
FG55.6%713/1283
3P27.1%29/107
FT81.6%421/516

3.5 assists a game

Will Riley F · age 20 · 32.5 projected min 2025-26: 74 g, 10.3 pts, 2.9 reb, 2.0 ast

2025-26 · WSH

74games
22.0min
10.3pts
2.9reb
FG43.9%271/618
3P31.6%78/247
FT80.0%144/180

2.0 assists a game

2024-25

No regular-season games on file.

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Anthony Gill F · age 34 · 29.9 projected min 2025-26: 54 g, 5.9 pts, 2.9 reb, 1.3 ast

2025-26 · WSH

54games
17.6min
5.9pts
2.9reb
FG62.8%135/215
3P35.4%17/48
FT73.9%34/46

1.3 assists a game

2024-25 · WSH

47games
8.4min
2.7pts
1.4reb
FG48.9%43/88
3P32.3%10/31
FT66.0%33/50

0.3 assists a game

2023-24 · WSH

44games
10.7min
4.3pts
2.1reb
FG46.9%75/160
3P24.4%10/41
FT80.6%29/36

0.8 assists a game

Bub Carrington G · age 21 · 29.3 projected min 2025-26: 82 g, 10.7 pts, 3.4 reb, 4.6 ast

2025-26 · WSH

82games
27.7min
10.7pts
3.4reb
FG42.4%314/741
3P40.8%169/414
FT73.0%81/111

4.6 assists a game

2024-25 · WSH

82games
30.0min
9.8pts
4.2reb
FG40.1%300/748
3P33.9%138/407
FT81.2%69/85

4.4 assists a game

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Jamir Watkins G · age 25 · 27.2 projected min 2025-26: 48 g, 7.7 pts, 4.0 reb, 1.4 ast

2025-26 · WSH

48games
21.5min
7.7pts
4.0reb
FG44.6%132/296
3P29.7%47/158
FT69.5%57/82

1.4 assists a game

2024-25

No regular-season games on file.

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Deandre Ayton New here C · age 28 · 26.0 projected min 2025-26: 72 g, 12.5 pts, 8.0 reb, 0.8 ast

2025-26 · LAL

72games
27.3min
12.5pts
8.0reb
FG67.1%403/601
3Pn/a0/0
FT64.5%91/141

0.8 assists a game

2024-25 · POR

40games
30.2min
14.4pts
10.2reb
FG56.6%265/468
3P18.8%6/32
FT66.7%40/60

1.6 assists a game

2023-24 · POR

55games
32.4min
16.7pts
11.1reb
FG57.0%427/749
3P10.0%1/10
FT82.3%65/79

1.6 assists a game

Trae Young G · age 28 · 24.5 projected min 2025-26: 15 g, 17.9 pts, 2.0 reb, 8.0 ast

2025-26 · ATL/WSH

15games
25.5min
17.9pts
2.0reb
FG45.8%81/177
3P33.8%27/80
FT82.5%80/97

8.0 assists a game

2024-25 · ATL

76games
36.0min
24.2pts
3.1reb
FG41.1%566/1376
3P34.0%218/642
FT87.5%491/561

11.6 assists a game

2023-24 · ATL

54games
35.9min
25.7pts
2.8reb
FG43.0%433/1008
3P37.3%175/469
FT85.5%348/407

10.8 assists a game

Bilal Coulibaly G · age 22 · 24.3 projected min 2025-26: 56 g, 11.7 pts, 4.3 reb, 2.6 ast

2025-26 · WSH

56games
26.2min
11.7pts
4.3reb
FG42.5%230/541
3P31.9%65/204
FT74.6%132/177

2.6 assists a game

2024-25 · WSH

59games
33.0min
12.3pts
5.0reb
FG42.1%263/624
3P28.1%63/224
FT74.6%138/185

3.4 assists a game

2023-24 · WSH

63games
27.3min
8.4pts
4.1reb
FG43.5%188/432
3P34.6%64/185
FT70.2%92/131

1.7 assists a game

How to read this

Method and limits

How our estimate is built
  • Our estimate starts from the roster. Each player's on-court net points per 48 minutes (from his most recent full season, pulled toward zero when the sample is small) is averaged by minutes across the roster list, then turned into wins at about 2.9 wins per point of net.
  • That win total is then pushed through the real 2026-27 schedule 20,000 times, using a home win probability for every game, to get the range and the playoff and play-in odds.
  • Ratings built from games alone (6,153 games before October 20) are kept as a comparison. They fade old games over the offseason, which pulls every team toward average.
  • The market number is the wins where Kalshi's "wins or more" price crosses 50%, read off a straight line between strikes five wins apart.
What the estimate does not know
  • Possessions are an estimate from box totals, not tracked possessions.
  • The season simulation uses each game's win probability from the ratings and nothing else: no rating uncertainty, injuries, trades after the cutoff or in-season rating updates, so the 10th-90th percentile band is narrower than a real season's spread.
  • The 2026-27 schedule file lists 1200 games (80 per team on average) rather than 1230. Each team's missing games ([2] per team) are played against an average opponent at a neutral site with no rest terms.
  • Projection method: (d) roster values. In the walk-forward study its hold-out MAE was 8.3 wins (n = 60 team-seasons) against 9.0 for last season's wins regressed toward 41. Typical error is still about 8 wins per team, so treat every number as a wide estimate.
  • Roster values use each player's box-score plus-minus, which is not adjusted for teammates. Players with no box-score history count as average at 10 minutes a game.
  • Ties in the seeding are broken at random; head-to-head and division rules are not applied.
  • Every team has a usable market median.
  • Market median uses the midpoint of the yes bid and ask for each strike and a straight line between the two strikes (5 wins apart) that straddle 0.5; a strike with no bid is treated as unpriced.
  • Rosters are the DraftKings Best Ball player list for draft group 150564, kept only where the player is on his team's current ESPN roster (ESPN team rosters, 2026-10-19): released and departed players are out. Players DraftKings lists as Out are not in the engine's pool, so they have no projected minutes and are not in the top 8; each team's moves block names them.
  • Projected minutes are the engine's per-player estimates from box scores through 2026-04-12; they are not scaled to the team's 240 minutes and do not model new teammates.
  • Box scores start in 2021-22; a player with no box score on file is marked as a rookie or new, which can include veterans returning from abroad. Ages come from the ESPN player directory (2025-26 file) and are missing for players it does not list.
  • This team has 2 games the schedule file does not list yet; they are treated as games against an average opponent.

Data built Oct 19, 2026. Estimates are ours and can be wrong.