00:00By the way, it could be any kind of reaction.
00:02Look who is in the house.
00:04Michael Winger, the president of basketball operations.
00:08Good luck, buddy.
00:09Good luck tonight.
00:10I'm so excited.
00:12Here, come on.
00:14Yeah, come on in.
00:15Come on real quick.
00:16Come on, Michael Winger.
00:17Michael Winger is doing this.
00:18What a moment.
00:19President of basketball operations.
00:20By the way, he's not sweating.
00:21He wasn't.
00:22You're calm, cool, collected.
00:24No, you sweat when you have two.
00:27Yeah, you don't have to sweat.
00:28You're in the catbird seat.
00:30How great does it feel for you and Will and the organization to know that you're going to get the
00:35player you want?
00:35You don't have to wait for another team to make the pick.
00:38You're going to get the player you want tonight at 1-1.
00:41How does that feel for you and everybody that we know has worked countless numbers of hours getting up to
00:46this point?
00:47I said this to JP last week.
00:49It's peaceful.
00:50Yeah, really?
00:51It's a really peaceful experience.
00:52Do you sleep well last night?
00:53You're in a Zen state?
00:54Yeah.
00:54We slept well last night.
00:56Not a tremendous amount of stress right now.
00:58We're going to get the guy we want.
00:59We know he wants to be in D.C. in the worst way.
01:03You know, you can only work so hard to get lucky.
01:06Yeah.
01:07You have to put yourself in a position to get lucky.
01:10Yeah.
01:11And we feel very strongly that we've done that.
01:14I got a question.
01:15Did anything surprise you along the process as you came to this decision?
01:22Just kind of come into a collective decision.
01:26Were there surprises along the way?
01:30I think the biggest surprise for us, particularly with this draft, is getting to know these guys.
01:37They're all amazing kids.
01:39Yeah.
01:39And it's supremely talented.
01:41Right.
01:42As I've said before, the talent at the top of this draft is incredible.
01:45Right.
01:45I want to add, you brought up the words that you used.
01:48This guy wants to be in D.C. in the worst way.
01:51Like, that's something a lot of players haven't said in years past for the organization for the Wizards.
01:57That's because of you guys.
01:58Talk about how you've gotten, you've sold the vision of this franchise to guys like Devon, Peterson, guys at the
02:04top of the draft, as well as free agents and guys who you want to trade for to bring into
02:08the mix here.
02:09I think it's much less selling and more uncovering what was already here.
02:13I mean, the city's a great city.
02:15The fan base is bursting with basketball excitement.
02:17Yeah.
02:17They want to be treated to good basketball, and they've wanted to be treated to good basketball for a long
02:21time.
02:22It's a hotbed of talent.
02:23It's a hotbed of basketball fandom.
02:26We've brought in some great young talent, we believe.
02:28We've polished up the organization.
02:30It's a wonderful organization.
02:31We have terrific ownership.
02:33And I think we just needed to sort of, like, showcase who the Washington Wizards are, showcase the Washington Wizards.
02:38Washington, D.C. is all about.
02:40And you just don't have to work that hard to showcase the city and this fan base.
02:43Right.
02:44We're desperate.
02:44We're desperate.
02:45And it's a huge base.
02:47After the first pick, and we all celebrate that, should we settle in and fasten our seatbelts that maybe there
02:53might be some more action?
02:54I would not anticipate a tremendous amount of fireworks tonight.
02:58Okay.
02:58I think that our show is going to be number one.
03:00Okay.
03:01We're going to celebrate that.
03:03We're going to celebrate that young man.
03:05And then we'll watch the rest of the draft as it unfolds.
03:08But I think our show is at number one.
03:12Real quick, real quick.
03:13I know you've got to go.
03:14I know you've got to go.
03:15But the Trey Young signing, while we're not surprised that you re-signed him, the number was staggering.
03:23Can you kind of tell us how that happened and why that happened for that number?
03:27I can tell you that Trey Young is an incredibly valuable player for the Washington Wizards.
03:32He was, in fact, sought after by the rest of the league.
03:34He continues to be sought after by, I don't want to say the rest of the league, other teams in
03:37the league.
03:38But he wants to be here.
03:39That matters to us.
03:40He's been tremendous for our young athletes.
03:42That matters to us.
03:43He's going to make the game easier for us.
03:45That matters to us.
03:46And I think that it's been a long time since we've had that level of excitement in a singular athlete
03:51on the basketball court.
03:52To me, that's worth his weight in gold.
03:55Love it.
03:55So thrilled.
03:56So thrilled.
03:57Thank you so much for your time.
04:01Of course.
04:02It's Michael Winger, president of baseball, basketball operations for Monumental Sports.
04:09Very nice of him to take a chunk of his evening.
04:11I mean, they're making the pick in 48 minutes, and he's sitting here hanging out with us here at the
04:17anthem.
04:17Very cool of him to take some time and talk about the state of the Wizards, the number one pick,
04:23Trey Young and more.
04:24Very cool.
04:26Well, he did say there were other teams that were interested.
04:29Well, of course.
04:30Yeah, I believe that.
04:31They're not stupid.
04:31I mean, he's going to say that either way, but I believe it.
04:36Of course.
04:37Of course.
04:37They're not going to give you an extra $80 million unless you show them that there's some other teams that
04:41are interested.
04:42Right.
04:42Absolutely.
04:43These guys have been around the business.
04:44They've been around.
04:45They know.
04:45They talk to people.
04:46This is not their first rodeo.
04:48Right.
04:48But thank you.
04:50So excited.
04:51So I actually am so excited.
04:53I've never, ever gotten up and sat back down and felt less significant.
04:58I'm sorry.
04:59I mean, hey.
04:59No, it's so nice of you to give him the headset.
05:01Dude, are you kidding me?
05:02How cool is that that he came through?
05:03So cool.
05:04He was trying to do a walk by, and I'm like, you are sitting here wearing this.
05:08You know what?
05:08Right?
05:09Cheap.
05:09Yeah.
05:09That's right.
05:11Let's give that guy a raise.
05:13You got a future.
05:13You got a future in this business, buddy.
05:15These guys get it.
05:17And I'll say this.
05:18You know, I was just talking.
05:19Christina was walking them around, and I said, the last few years have been such a breath of fresh air.
05:24Right.
05:25The way that they operate, the transparency with which they operate, but their understanding of the landscape of the sport.
05:31I don't mean this as a knock on Tommy Shepard, maybe a little bit of a knock on Ernie,
05:35but these guys are just a cut of bone.
05:38You see it with the Boney and the Nationals right now.
05:41They get it.
05:42Yeah.
05:42You know?
05:42And not every move they make is, like, I don't love 2-12 for Trae Young, per se,
05:47but there's a method to their madness.
05:49They're going, we need a ball handler.
05:50We need someone to create on offense.
05:52We need a spark plug for the next era.
05:54Right.
05:54They got a plan, and they've stuck to it, and they get a lot of credit for that.
05:58They know how a modern sports franchise should be run from the front office and ownership side.
06:04Yeah.
06:04So they're doing it the right way.
06:06We commend them for the job they're doing.
06:08Tonight's traffic, 1-1 overall, is just the latest addition to that.
06:13I can't believe how many people are here.
06:15I mean, sold out.
06:16They get a freaking draft party.
06:17They think there might be more than 5,000 coming tonight.
06:20Yeah, I mean, I think that's about the capacity.
06:21Well, there's definitely 5,000 people trying to park in the parking lodges.
06:25It's the Hunger Games down there.
06:27I mean, it's every man, woman, and child.
06:30I got so lucky.
06:32You got hooked.
06:32I just kept circling and circling and circling.
06:35Finally, a guy was coming down who works somewhere up here in one of these offices.
06:39He looked at me and goes, I'm out.
06:40Oh, I'm so glad.
06:41I said, all right, good.
06:42How about I went into Garage 1, circled for about 10 or 15 minutes, and I said, there are no
06:49spots here.
06:50Yeah, I failed.
06:50Left, went to a different garage, here we are.
06:53So you got out?
06:54You got out and went to a different garage?
06:55Oh, I went back to work and took an Uber.
06:58Oh, you did?
06:58I failed entirely.
06:59By the way, this is such an auto Uber situation.
07:02I will never drive down here.
07:04It's always Uber.
07:05I blame Cakes.
07:06I say, Cakes, I've never been here.
07:07Tell me.
07:08Tell me.
07:08He said, oh, there's plenty of garage.
07:09It's going to be fine.
07:10Not a problem.
07:11Come out of here.
07:11Instant Circus.
07:13Instant Circus.
07:14I didn't expect what I saw in that garage.
07:16Yeah, there's a lot.
07:17There's a lot going on.
07:19I don't think I'll ever come back.
07:21How about I found a spot?
07:22Well, unless you Uber.
07:23Hey, you're going to be steamed up when they're picking 1-1 next year, and you're sitting right here again.
07:27All right, so if you have your ticket already, you can come down to the Anthem for the Wizards draft
07:32party.
07:32If not, you're out of luck.
07:33It is a sold-out event.
07:35We will be broadcasting live until 9 p.m.
07:38And then we hand it off to Toby and Ben.
07:41But we will be live for the Wizards.
07:43Number one overall pick is coming up at 8 o'clock.
07:46It's the Junkies and Grant Paulson coming to you live from the Anthem for the Wizards.
07:51NBA draft 2026 party.
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