Milwaukee Trips Up at Washington;Sixers Win in Cleveland : April 20, 2012

In the battle for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, the Milwaukee Bucks shot themselves in the foot on Wednesday night by dropping one to the lowly Washington...

Magic Follows Beauty on Monday with a Tuesday Stinker Against Washington : April 11, 2012

Talk about Jekyll and Hyde, Orlando would certainly qualify. They played a great game against Detroit on Monday, winning by 30, 119-89. They were in total command even with Dwight...

Celtics Top Wizards; Heat Loses to Bucks in Eastern Conference Action : January 23, 2012

No Rondo? No problem. Ray Allen goes down in the first half? That's OK too. Because Paul Pierce showed up on Sunday for the Celtics. Pierce led the C's with...

NBA Southeast Division Update; Heat Leads the Way : January 04, 2012

The Southeast Division of the NBA is the Eastern Conference's most competitive thus far, at least at the top. As of Jan 3, the Heat is on top at 5-1...

NBA Atlantic Division Update: Nobody Taking Charge So Far : December 31, 2011

1-2, 1-2, 1-2, 1-3 and 1-3: Those are the records of the teams in the Atlantic Division thus far. It's early yet, but clearly not the start these teams wanted. The...

NBA back on the Courts for Preseason Basketball : December 18, 2011

Friday night was a welcome sight for hoops fans. The NBA is back on the floor. There were four pre-season games on Friday night to open the action. The Bulls were...

Wizard’s Blatche Hosts Lap Dance Tuesdays : May 04, 2011

It could explain why Miami’s American Airlines Arena was not even close to being full when Tuesday evening’s game got underway. Apparently, Andray Blatche was playing host at a Miami club...

Kirk Hinrich Moves to Hawks for Bibby : February 23, 2011

With a five-player trade, the hapless Atlanta Hawks received guard Kirk Hinrich from the Washington Wizards in a move to strengthen their backcourt in the final stretch toward the playoffs. In...

washington wizards History

The NBA Washington Wizards play in the Eastern Conference's Southeast Division as part of the National Basketball Association. The Wizards are based out of Washington, D.C. and play at Verizon Center. In 1962, the team was formed and called the Chicago Zephyrs but moved in 1963 to Baltimore Maryland where they were named the Baltimore Bullets.

In 1967, the Bullets drafted Earl Monroe and in 1968 Wes Unseld. In 1968-69 the Bullets won 57 games, but lost the first round of the playoffs to the New York Knicks. In 1969-70 the Knicks once again defeated the Bullets in the first round of the playoffs. In 2970-71, the bullets defeated the Knicks this time at the Eastern Conference Finals. They were defeated in the NBA Finals by the Milwaukee Bucks, who were led by Oscar Robertson and Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul Jabbar). The team became known as the Capital Bullets in 1973 after moving to Landover, Maryland and then the following season were renamed the Washington Bullets. In 1974-75, the Bullets went 60-22 but were upset in the NBA Finals by the Golden State Warriors led by Rick Barry. In 1977-78, led by Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes, the Bullets defeated the Seattle SuperSonics to win the NBA Championship. In 1978-79, the Bullets returned to the finals against the Seattle SuperSonics once again, but this time Seattle prevailed.

In 1984-85, the Bullets went 42-40. It was the last winning season for Washington until 1996-97. In 1996-97, led by Chris Webber and Juwan Howard, the Bullets went 44-38 and finally made it back to the playoffs. In the first round they were swept by the Chicago Bulls.

In 1997, the name of the team was changed to the Washington Wizards. In 1999 Michael Jordan retired from basketball. In January 2000, he became President of Basketball Operations for the Washington Wizards and a minority owner. Jordan, at the age of 38 in September 2001, came back from retirement and played for the Wizards. Jordan returned to play the 2002-03 season. However, following the season Michael Jordan was fired by Abe Pollin, the majority owner, as team president.