The Wizards keep experimenting, even as the losses pile up

Welcome to the Wizards’ 26-game run to the season’s finish, in which the nightly box scores are going to get a little bit funkier and a whole lot more eclectic — even if the Wizards continue their slide. Friday’s loss was their 10th straight.

Still, rebuilding Washington (9-47) is looking at this last chunk of the schedule as a stretch that could vault them into next season with positive momentum. “We want this to be this time where we look back and say, ‘This was our foundational stretch where we found our identity,’ ” point guard Tyus Jones said Thursday. To do that, the Wizards’ brass needs to figure out whom it wants to bring on the ride.

That means there will be a fair bit of experimentation beyond just moving Jordan Poole to the bench, though the guard responded to that change by leading the Wizards with 21 points on 7-for-19 shooting in 22 minutes Friday.

“We’re still finding our rhythm with [the new rotations]. The one positive is you see Jordan getting to the free throw line more,” interim coach Brian Keefe said. “. . . That shows that he’s getting downhill and attacking, and if we can get our free throws up, that’s a great way to make us more efficient.”

The Wizards are going to take a good look at Omoruyi, the 6-foot-6, 235-pound small forward playing on a two-way contract who finished with seven points and one rebound Friday. Omoruyi, who goes by Geno around the locker room, is built like an oak tree and has a penchant for scoring in bunches and a reputation for providing furious energy.

They’re going to take a good look at Baldwin Jr., the 6-9, 220-pound center who arrived in a trade from Golden State last summer with Poole and is eager to prove himself up to the challenge of tough defensive assignments. He finished with three points in 16 minutes and had two rebounds.

They’re going to take another look at Davis to see whether all the time he has spent in the G League this season has provided the necessary springboard to becoming a dependable NBA player. Friday wasn’t a promising start, though Keefe praised his physicality: Davis went 1 for 8 from the field for two points in 17 minutes. He had seven rebounds but committed several defensive errors.

“I thought those guys gave us good minutes,” Keefe said. “Those guys were all in the game when we made a run — I think we cut it to five — and they were all in the game playing good team basketball. So we’re going to continue to explore our roster and develop them for the rest of the year.”

Experimentation further up the roster will look more like putting established players into less familiar roles. The Wizards want to see how Deni Avdija, who was a late scratch for Friday’s game with a foot injury, responds with the ball in his hands more. Or whether Jones can be a catch-and-shoot threat on offense.

So far, all the trial and error has yielded ugliness. After Denver romped through the paint Thursday, the Thunder (39-17) shot 59.8 percent from the field and never gave the Wizards a glimmer of a chance. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led with 30 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Chet Holmgren had 25 assists and 10 rebounds.

Washington’s defensive struggles led to poor offense for the starters — Corey Kispert added 20 points off the bench to Poole’s 21, and Marvin Bagley III toiled his way to 15 points and 14 rebounds in 21 minutes. Kyle Kuzma added 14 points.

On Friday, at least, the Wizards’ experiments fizzled.

“We’re at that point in the season where a lot of different guys are going to be in the rotation, a lot of different guys are going to be on the roster,” Kuzma said. “It’s a little bit bigger than finding a rhythm. … It’s all about the habits. It’s cliché, but that’s the only things that you can look forward to trying to improve every day.”

Here’s what else to know from the Wizards’ loss:

A left heel contusion caused Avdija to miss Friday’s game, a rarity for the durable 23-year-old. It was the first game Avdija has missed all season and just the sixth in the past three seasons. He played all 82 games in 2021-22, his second year in the league, after shutting down his rookie season early because of injury.

Washington signed forward Justin Champagnie (pronounced “sham-penny”) to a 10-day contract Thursday to bring its roster up to 14 players after buying out veteran guard Delon Wright over the all-star break.

The front office plans to rotate through a host of candidates before deciding on someone for the longer term. That leaves players such as Champagnie, who has 34 G League games with the Sioux Falls Skyforce and 15 double-doubles under his belt this season, in the unenviable positioning of showing what they have in scant minutes over a span of three games or so.

He had four points in five minutes of action Friday.

The Wizards’ poor defense Thursday allowed for a history-making night in Denver for Nikola Jokic, who became the fourth player in NBA history to record a triple-double against every team he has faced. Jokic, who went 10 for 10 from the field for 21 points, 19 rebounds and 15 assists, also became the first NBA player to shoot at least 10 for 10 from the field with at least 15 rebounds and 15 assists in a game.

Russell Westbrook and LeBron James, who have played for multiple teams, have logged triple-doubles against all 30 teams in the league. Hall of Famer Maurice Stokes did so against the other seven teams that made up the NBA when he played.