The Washington Wizards are a professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C., previously known as Washington Bullets. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and play their home games at the Verizon Center in the Chinatown section of Washington, D.C..

In 1995, owner Abe Pollin announced he was changing the team’s name because Bullets had acquired violent overtones that had made him increasingly uncomfortable over the years, particularly given the high homicide and crime rate in the early 1990s in Washington, D.C. The final straw was the assassination of his longtime friend, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.[2] A contest was held to choose a new name and the choices were narrowed to the Dragons, Express, Stallions, Sea Dogs, or Wizards.[3] On May 15, 1997, the Bullets officially became the Washington Wizards. The change generated some controversy because Washington is a predominantly African-American city and Wizard is a rank in the Ku Klux Klan.[3] A new logo was unveiled and the team colors were changed from the traditional red, white and blue to blue, black and bronze, the same colors as the Washington Capitals hockey team owned by Pollin. That same year the Wizards moved to the then MCI Center, now called Verizon Center. The Verizon Center is home to the Capitals, the Washington Mystics of the Women’s National Basketball Association and the Georgetown Hoyas men’s college basketball team.

In 1998, they became the brother team to the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, and remained officially thus until 2005 when the Mystics were sold to Lincoln Holdings (headed by Ted Leonsis), parent company of the Washington Capitals. However, upon the purchase of the Wizards by Leonsis in 2010, the Wizards and Mystics again became sibling teams.

After retiring from the Chicago Bulls in early 1999, Michael Jordan became the Washington Wizards’ president of basketball operations as well as a minority owner in January 2000. In September 2001, Jordan came out of retirement at age 38 to play for Washington. Jordan stated that he was returning “for the love of the game.” Because of NBA rules, he had to divest himself of any ownership of the team. Before the All-Star break, Jordan was only one of two players to average more than 25 points, 5 assists, and 5 rebounds[4] as he led the Wizards to a 26–21 record. After the All-Star break, Jordan’s knee could not handle the workload of a full-season as he ended the season on the injured list, and the Wizards concluded the season with a 37–45 record. Jordan led the Wizards to an 18-win improvement from the previous season.

Follow CityMetroGuide on Twitter: @CityMetroGuide