A Brighter NBA Future Starts With Wizards Loss in Toronto

Everyone hates the 'T' word, but it might be time for Washington Wizards fans - and the organization - to accept where they are in the NBA and work toward a brighter future by losing Sunday to the Toronto Raptors.

Typically, we'd tell you to get the best out of your future you need to work and fight to win every battle, and we'd say the same about the Washington Wizards. 

But we've seen teams in the same situation the Wizards are today do something no fan really likes to embrace. 

Tank.

And according to The Athletic's David Aldridge, that may be the best way for Washington to move forward as the season comes to another disappointing end. 

"If you care deeply about the franchise and want it to once again be among the NBA's elite teams and title contenders," Aldridge says. "If you're sick of Capital One Arena being taken over any time a good team comes to town...You will root for the Wizards to lose every one of their last eight games, starting Sunday in Toronto."

But don't take Aldrdige's words as some sort of hatred for the organization or its players and decision-makers. 

While acknowledging the work and grind this Wizards team has gone through, he makes the same observation we all do, just more bluntly than most. 

"The Wizards," he says. "Clearly, aren't good enough in their current form."

Unfortunately, Aldridge is right. And even if Washington were to scrape their way back into a play-in spot, any excitement growing from that effort would likely - and quickly - disappear once the cream of the postseason bracket started to rise. 

But the Wizards will continue to scrap and fight in every matchup. Which is what fans typically want to see, right?

"This is not saying Jay Huff or any of Washington's two-way guys should play 42 minutes against Boston on Tuesday," Aldridge says while clarifying he is not calling on the franchise to actually tank. "It's an insult to all the work that Beal and Kyle Kuzma and Porzingis and their teammates put into their craft - daily, yearly - to ask them to lose on purpose. 

They should be playing to win. But you should be rooting...for other results. And just for two weeks."

It's an opinion based on logic and historic facts supporting the idea that the best way to reinvigorate an NBA franchise is through high draft picks. 

But it's also one that speaks against the true nature of a fan. 

For two weeks, if Wizards fans actively hope for their favorite team to continue losing, however, perhaps they can get something worth cheering for in the near future. 

Find David Harrison on Twitter @DHarrison82

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