Washington Wizards

The Washington Wizards are based in Washington, D.C., previously known as Washington Bullets.

The club now known as the Wizards began play as the Chicago Packers in the 1961–62 season. The next season, they changed their name to the Chicago Zephyrs. In 1963 the franchise moved to Baltimore, Maryland, and became the Baltimore Bullets (no relation to the 1940s–50s Bullets franchise). In their first year in Baltimore, the Bullets finished 4th in a 5–team Western Division.

Michael Jordan became the Washington Wizards’ president of basketball operations as well as a minority owner in January 2000. In September 2001, Jordan came out of retirement at age 38 to play for Washington. Jordan led the Wizards to an 18-win improvement from the previous season. After the 2002-2003 season, majority owner Pollin fired Jordan as team president.

The Wizards then signed All-Star point guard Gilbert Arenas. Arenas’s career has been full of ups and down. He became a legend for the Wizards. He has suffered a number of injuries and surgeries on his knee along with a heavy suspension from the NBA. On December 24, 2009, it was revealed that Arenas had admitted to storing unloaded firearms in his locker at Verizon Center and had surrendered them to team security. In doing so, Arenas violated both NBA rules against bringing firearms into an arena and D.C. ordinances. On January 1, 2010, it was reported that Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton had unloaded guns in the Wizards’ locker room during a Christmas Eve argument regarding gambling debts. The NBA slapped with a lengthy suspension.

On May 18, 2010, Washington was given the 1st overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, and selected All-American Kentucky guard John Wall. It should be an exciting 2010-2011 season for the Wizards.