The Wizards won’t get a giant national TV spotlight in 2026-27, but the schedule still handed them enough chances to matter. After the initial batch of six nationally televised games, Washington picked up four more on NBA TV, pushing the total to 10 games that will reach beyond LeaguePass and Monumental Sports Network.
That gives the league’s young team a few extra stages, and there are some pretty obvious hooks attached to those dates. From former Wizards forward Deni Avdija coming back to D.C. to Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs rolling in, the Wizards have a slate full of matchups that should tell viewers something about where this rebuild stands.
One of the most charged return trips belongs to Avdija. Portland comes in with Damian Lillard and Ja Morant in the backcourt, but the real draw for a chunk of Wizards fans is the player Washington once moved on from and who has now grown into an All-Star. There’s still a vocal group that believes the Wizards never should have traded him.
Washington already got a taste of that reunion in 2025-26, when the Wizards split the season series with Portland despite finishing with just 17 wins. In the tighter of those games, Washington’s wing defenders went after Avdija and forced him into some important turnovers. Among the team’s young group, the list of familiar one-on-one matchups remains short, which makes Portland stand out a little more than most visitors.
Another game to circle brings Kawhi Leonard back east after seven mostly underwhelming seasons with the Clippers ended in a major shakeup. Leonard is now back with the Raptors, the team he won the 2019 NBA Finals MVP with as a one-year stop in Toronto.
The move came after the NBA ruled on the Clippers in a salary cap circumvention investigation tied to Leonard, stripping the franchise of five first-round picks, fining owner Steve Ballmer $30 million and handing out suspensions for Ballmer and Lawrence… Leonard, aside from a $700,000 restitution fee, is moving on without further punishment. His job now is the same one that slipped away from those Clippers teams: get a playoff series win.
Toronto has its own problems in that department. The Raptors pushed the Cavaliers to seven games in this spring’s first round, so the talent is there, but both Leonard and Toronto are staring at long postseason droughts. The Wizards, meanwhile, are trying to climb out of the Play-In picture, and on paper they have the kind of perimeter defenders that can at least make Leonard earn everything.
Then there’s the matchup with Wembanyama and the Spurs, which will land on NBA TV for the third time in four games. San Antonio spent last season turning defense into a weapon while Washington was stuck losing enough to improve its lottery position.
Wembanyama won Defensive Player of the Year by a unanimous vote and out-blocked Alex Sarr, who is still trying to reach that same kind of status. Add Anthony Davis into the mix and the league has a pair of bigs who can wreck nights for opposing centers. Wembanyama is a problem for everyone, but Washington does at least have size to throw at him.
The other marquee test comes with Davis and LeBron James meeting as Eastern Conference foes for the first time. The Wizards will host one of three matchups against the season’s biggest storyline, with James at 41 and in a new uniform yet again.
NBA TV has the second of the three games against the 76ers on Washington’s schedule, and it will be the first time Wizards fans get to see that Davis-James duel in person. The two former 2020 NBA Champions faced each other once in each of Davis’ two fragmented Mavericks seasons, but both are starting over again now.
There’s still plenty of uncertainty around Washington’s own roster, too, with extension and trade rumors hanging over Davis. Even if he isn’t around for the long haul, the rest of the group can still use those games to measure itself against high-end competition, including James and recent rim-running former Laker Deandre Ayton.