Wizards owner Ted Leonsis: ‘Deconstruction’ of roster needed, but over

The Wizards have been bad for a while now. Really bad.

They’ve won 15, 18 and 17 games over the past three seasons. But owner Ted Leonsis says there are no regrets about tearing the whole thing down.

Actually, don’t call it a teardown. Leonsis prefers the word “deconstruction.”

Speaking to The Athletic’s Barry Svrluga, Leonsis said team president Michael Winger made it clear from the start that this rebuild would require patience.

“(Winger) said to me three or four times, ‘You know, this could take four or five years,’” Leonsis said. “And I said, ‘I totally understand.’”

Leonsis added that he went through a similar process with the NHL’s Capitals and understood there wasn’t really another path available.

“I don’t see any other path to get out of where we are than deconstruct,” he said. “And they executed it very, very well.”

Now comes the interesting part.

Washington landed the No. 1 overall pick in what many around the league view as a loaded 2026 draft. Suddenly, the future looks a whole lot brighter than it did a couple weeks ago.

That doesn’t mean the Wizards think they’re done rebuilding, though. Far from it. Leonsis stressed that this is still the beginning of a long process, not the finish line.

“I think it’s an important point on this long, long journey that we’ll be on,” he said. “The deconstruction, though, is over.”

In other words, the losing may not be done. But the teardown phase probably is.