Wizards, Nets clash while draft lottery positioning looms large
Sunday marks the fourth and final time the Washington Wizards and the Brooklyn Nets face off in the regular season, and despite their places in the standings, the implications are large.
Draft positioning will loom large as the Wizards (17-60) face the host Nets (18-59) in New York. The Indiana Pacers (18-59) are the only other team in play for the worst record in the league and an opportunity at the most chances in the draft lottery.
The rough season continued for Washington with a 152-136 setback at Miami on Saturday. It was the second consecutive game, and the third time in less than a month, that the Wizards surrendered 150 or more points.
It was the second time the Heat reached 150 points against the Wizards. Miami's Bam Adebayo didn't score 83 points this time, but Miami led by as many as 35 points.
Rookie Will Riley scored a career-high 31 points to lead Washington, which had eight players score in double figures. Jaden Hardy scored 19 points while making half of his 10 attempts from 3-point range.
Washington shot a respectable 47.2% form the floor, but watched the Heat shoot a season-high 58.1%.
A number of key players were unavailable Wizards, led by Anthony Davis, Trae Young, Kyshawn George, D'Angelo Russell, and Alex Sarr.
"For a coach, I think we're so focused on the day," Wizards coach Brian Keefe said. "I probably don't look at the big picture of those things. ... For me, I'm just focused on today and our team, so I probably can't comment too much on that."
The Nets also have been left to explore all parts of their roster at the back end of a disappointing season.
Nic Claxton led six players in double figures with 16 points as Brooklyn dropped a 141-107 decision at home to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday.
Brooklyn set the stage for a sloppy performance with five turnovers on their first 14 possessions.
"Poor executing on our end," Jordi Fernandez said. "We just were not good enough, starting with the guys that bring the ball up the floor, They tried to get us into something organized."
The Nets signed Malachi Smith to a multi-year contract on Saturday one day after he scored 15 points against the Hawks on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor and 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
Smith, undrafted out of Gonzaga in 2023, had bounced around the G-League and was on the second of back-to-back 10-day contracts at the time of the deal. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound guard has averaged 7.3 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals in 18.2 minutes per outing across his first 10 career games with Brooklyn.
"I'm someone that has been praying for this opportunity and working for this opportunity for years. So, I'm not going to take any minute for granted," Smith said.
The Wizards have five games remaining in the regular season, including three at home. The Nets also have five games remaining with the last two on the road.