The Washington Wizards are a professional basketball team playing in the NBA for Washington D.C. The franchise began in the 1961-62 season as the Chicago Packers. In 1963 the franchise moved to Baltimore and became the Baltimore Bullets. In 1973 the team moved to Landover, Maryland and became the Capital Bullets, later changing their name to the Washington Bullets.
In the 1970-71 season they made it to their first franchise NBA finals, only to be swept in 4 games by the Milwaukee Bucks. In 1975 they beat the reigning NBA champions, the Boston Celtics to make it to the NBA finals again. Although the Bullets were posted as heavy favorites to win the NBA championship, they were again swept in 4 games by the Golden State Warriors. The 1977-78 season put them as long-shots to even go to the NBA finals with a season record of 44-38, but the team pulled together and won their first NBA championship in their 36 year history defeating the Seattle Super Sonics in 7 games. They faced Seattle again in the NBA finals during the 1978-79 season, this time losing in 5 games.
The next decade was a difficult one for the Bullets, with aging players and losing seasons. In 1991 the franchise named Susan O’Malley as its president, the first female president of a franchise in the history of the NBA. The team continued to be plagued with injuries and was not able to repeat their winning records from the 70s. In 1995, Washington was experiencing some of the highest homicide rates in the country, and the franchise changed its name from the Bullets to the Wizards, changed their logo and their colors. Despite involvement from Michael Jordan in the early 2000s, the Wizards have continued to struggle with injuries and have yet to return to the NBA finals.
