This is our last NBA Tuesday listicle (for the foreseeable future): from Salt Lake City to Washington, DC, we go, taking on the best players in the history of the Chicago Packers/Zephyrs and the Capitol/Washington Bullets/Wizards—surprisingly all the same franchise dating back to 1961. We’ve come a long way with these Top 10 lists for best teams and players in each organization’s history, and we look forward to our next idea!

No. 10: Phil Chenier, SG—39.3 WS (1971-1979)

This is a pretty low bar for the Top 10, sadly, in terms of career WS mark, not achievement. He was actually a 3-time All Star (1974-1975, 1977) who was a member of the 1978 NBA championship team. However, injuries cut his career short, as he played in just 115 regular-season games over his last 4 seasons, overall. In 546 contests with the organization, he averaged 17.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.1 apg, and 1.7 spg. That’s a solid contributor.

No. 9: Jack Marin, SF—41.3 WS (1966-1972)

The No. 5 overall pick in the draft, he finally made good in his final season in DC by making the All Star squad. In that same season, he also topped the NBA in free-throw percentage. Overall, he played in 480 regular-season games for the team, posting 16.7 ppg and 6.1 rpg. In 35 postseason contests, he contributed 18.7 ppg and 7.0 rpg. Again, those are solid (not spectacular) numbers for a guy on a franchise’s Top 10 list.

No. 8: Antawn Jamison, PF/SF—41.4 WS (2004-2010)

Traded 5 times in his NBA career, he originally was the No. 4 overall pick by the Toronto Raptors in the 1998 Draft. The Wizards were his third team in three seasons when he arrived, and his best years were in DC as he made his only 2 career All-Star teams there (2005, 2008). In 421 regular-season games, he produced 20.8 ppg, 8.9 rpg, and 1.1 spg. But he only played in 26 postseason contests, supplying 20.3 ppg and 8.3 rpg. Nice.

No. 7: Gilbert Arenas, PG—41.5 WS (2001-2010)

Sadly, he’s best known for a dumb-ass incident which all but ended his NBA career. But he also was a 3-time All Star with the Wizards (2005-2007) who averaged 25.0 ppg across 8 seasons with the team—yet only played in 357 regular-season games for the franchise. He added 5.7 apg, 4.2 rpg, and 1.8 spg as well to be a pretty well-rounded contributor. However, injuries and the aforementioned stupidity curtailed his glory.

No. 6: John Wall, PG—44.3 WS (2010-2019)

Another player who saw his career cut short by injuries, he was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 Draft. He made 5 consecutive All-Star teams (2014-2018), however, and he registered 19.0 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 4.3 rpg, and 1.7 spg with the franchise across 573 games before needing to sit out the entire 2019-2020 season with injuries. He was even better in the playoffs (37 games): 21.9 ppg, 9.8 apg, 4.3 rpg, and 1.7 spg. Injuries are unlucky shit.

No. 5: Greg Ballard, SF—48.6 WS (1977-1985)

The No. 4 overall pick in the draft, he actually didn’t contribute much to the 1978 title run during his rookie season, and he never made an All-Star team, either. He started less than half the time in his Washington tenure, averaging 13.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg, and 1.2 spg in his 8 seasons with the organization. In 55 playoff games, he all but disappeared with just 7.7 ppg and 5.2 rpg. You could argue he was a pretty big bust, all in all. Sad.

No. 4: Bradley Beal, SG—52.2 WS (2012-2023)

After being selected No. 3 overall in the draft, he went on to make 3 All-Star teams (2018-2019, 2021) with the organization across 11 seasons. His stats? A mere 22.1 ppg, 4.3 apg, 4.1 rpg, and 1.1 spg in 695 regular-season games and 23.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.8 apg, and 1.5 spg in 45 playoff contests. He topped the NBA in minutes played once (2019), too, proving himself to be a guy always gets on the court to give what he has.

No. 3: Walt Bellamy, C—57.0 WS (1961-1965)

Pretty stunning he’s this high on the list despite playing just 327 games with the team, but he was an original Packer/Zephyr. The No. 1 overall pick in the 1961 Draft, he was an All Star in all 4 full seasons (1962-1965) he played with the organization before being traded. He averaged 27.6 ppg and 16.6 rpg in the regular season, yet he reached the playoffs just once with the expansion franchise he joined. He’s a Hall of Famer.

No. 2: Elvin Hayes, PF—80.0 WS (1972-1981)

Originally the No. 1 overall pick in the 1968 Draft by the San Diego Rockets, he joined the franchise in his 5th season and proceeded to make 8 consecutive All-Star teams (1973-1980). He topped the NBA in rebounding once (1974) while posting 21.3 ppg, 12.7 rpg, 2.4 bpg, and 1.1 spg across 731 regular-season games with the team. In the playoffs, he was even better: 23.0 ppg, 13.0 rpg, 2.6 bpg, 1.2 spg—our 1978 Finals MVP.

No. 1: Wes Unseld, C—110.1 WS (1968-1981)

Picked right after his future teammate above in the 1968 Draft, he won the NBA MVP and ROTY in 1969 and that 1978 Finals MVP vote, too. Of course, we disagreed with both MVP votes, but he was a 5-time All Star (1969, 1971-1973, 1975) despite being pretty overrated, generally. He was the 1975 rebounding champion, however, yet for a guy who scored just 10.8 ppg in his career, he got a lot of mileage out of … something else.