Washington Wizards Trivia
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59 free Washington Wizards trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Washington Wizards trivia quiz covers the whole franchise, not just the Wizards years: the one-season Chicago Packers, the Baltimore Bullets of Earl Monroe and Wes Unseld, four Finals trips in the 1970s and the 1978 championship, the long drought, Abe Pollin's 1997 decision to drop the Bullets name, Michael Jordan's comeback and firing, Gilbert Arenas, John Wall and Bradley Beal, and the current rebuild around Alex Sarr. Easy questions cover the arena, the colours and the biggest names; harder ones ask about the meatpacking origins of 'Packers', the coach fired with a 62 percent winning record, the first NBA team to tour China, and which names lost the 1997 renaming contest. Uniforms, logos and ownership all get a look. Every answer was checked against primary and encyclopaedic sources before it went in, so when you miss one you can trust the explanation. Play it solo or run it as a round at your next watch party. For the wider league, our NBA trivia page is the natural next stop.
30 of 59 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What name did the Wizards' Chinatown home, shared with the city's NHL team, take in 2017?
Capital One Arena
Capital One Arena: the building opened in 1997 as MCI Center, became Verizon Center in 2006 after Verizon bought MCI, and was renamed when the Tysons-based bank bought the naming rights.
Q 02The Wizards franchise's original 1961 nickname referenced which Chicago industry?
Meatpacking
Meatpacking: the Packers name honoured Chicago's stockyards, but it was also the name of the Bears' Green Bay rivals and was dropped after one season.
Q 03What was the Wizards franchise called in 1962–63, the second and last season it spent in Chicago?
Zephyrs
Zephyrs: the renamed team lasted one season before moving to Baltimore, and Chicago had no NBA club again until the Bulls arrived in 1966.
Q 04The 'Bullets' name adopted after the 1963 relocation was borrowed from what?
A defunct 1940s–50s Baltimore BAA/NBA franchise
A defunct 1940s–50s Baltimore BAA/NBA franchise: the new club revived the name of the original Baltimore Bullets, champions of 1948, who had folded in 1954.
Q 05Which rookie averaged 31.6 points and 19 rebounds in the Wizards franchise's first season, 1961–62?
Walt Bellamy
Walt Bellamy: the first overall pick won Rookie of the Year and led the league in field-goal percentage, yet his expansion team still lost 62 of its 80 games.
Q 06Which owner bought the Bullets with two partners for $1.1 million in 1964 and stayed in charge until 2009?
Abe Pollin
Abe Pollin: he built the Capital Centre, later privately financed the team's downtown arena, and at his death in November 2009 was the NBA's longest-tenured owner.
Q 07Who is the only player in franchise history to win league MVP (1969) and Finals MVP (1978)?
Wes Unseld
Wes Unseld: he was Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same 1968–69 season, a double only Wilt Chamberlain had managed, as the Bullets went from last place to the league's best record.
Q 08Which guard did the Baltimore Bullets draft second overall in 1967?
Earl Monroe
Earl Monroe: 'the Pearl' was Rookie of the Year in 1968 and took Baltimore to the 1971 Finals, then forced a trade to the rival Knicks that autumn and won the 1973 title with them.
Q 09Which team swept the Bullets in their first NBA Finals appearance in 1971?
Milwaukee Bucks
Milwaukee Bucks: Lew Alcindor and Oscar Robertson swept Baltimore 4–0 after the Bullets had ousted the Knicks in a Game 7 at Madison Square Garden.
Q 10Which Hall of Fame forward did Baltimore acquire from the Houston Rockets in 1972?
Elvin Hayes
Elvin Hayes: 'The Big E' came from Houston for Jack Marin in 1972, anchored the 1978 title team, and was traded back to the Rockets in 1981.
Q 11What was the team's name during its first season in the Washington area, 1973–74?
Capital Bullets
Capital Bullets: the team left Baltimore for suburban Landover and took the Washington name a season later, yet went back to Baltimore for a few home games each season from 1989 to 1997.
Q 12On which college campus did the Bullets play in November 1973 while their new arena was finished?
Maryland
Maryland: the Bullets borrowed the university's Cole Field House, where Texas Western's all-Black starting five had won the 1966 NCAA title, until the Capital Centre opened that December.
Q 13Which ex-Celtic coached the 60-win Bullets of 1974–75?
K. C. Jones
Q 21Which centre did the Bullets acquire from Philadelphia in 1986 in exchange for Jeff Ruland?
Moses Malone
Moses Malone: the three-time MVP averaged 24.1 points in his first Washington season, while injuries held Ruland to five games for the 76ers before he retired.
Q 22Which 5-foot-3 guard did the Bullets draft 12th overall in 1987?
Muggsy Bogues
Muggsy Bogues: the shortest player in NBA history spent one season in Washington before Charlotte took him in the 1988 expansion draft, and he became a Hornets mainstay.
Q 23Which executive did the Bullets name in 1991 as the first female president of an NBA franchise?
Susan O'Malley
K. C. Jones: his Bullets won 60 games and reached the 1975 Finals, but he was let go a year later and went on to win two NBA titles as a head coach in the 1980s.
Q 14Which team stunned the heavily favoured Bullets with a four-game sweep in the 1975 NBA Finals?
Golden State Warriors
Golden State Warriors: winners of 48 games to Washington's 60, they swept even though an ice show had booked their Oakland arena and pushed their home games to the Cow Palace.
Q 15Which team did the Bullets beat in seven games to win the 1978 NBA championship?
Seattle SuperSonics
Seattle SuperSonics: Washington trailed 3–2, won Game 6 by 35 points, then took Game 7 in Seattle 105–99 for the franchise's only title.
Q 16Which Bullets coach made "the opera ain't over till the fat lady sings" the rallying cry of the 1978 title run?
Dick Motta
Dick Motta: he borrowed the line from Texas sportscaster Dan Cook during the 1978 playoffs and kept repeating it as his 44-win Bullets went on to take the title.
Q 17Which top-seeded team did the 44-win Bullets upset in the 1978 Eastern Conference finals?
76ers
76ers: Philadelphia had promised its fans 'We owe you one' after losing the 1977 Finals, but the Bullets won the series in six games and went on to take the title.
Q 18In the 1979 East finals the Bullets came back from 3–1 down to beat which team in a Game 7 classic?
San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs: George Gervin's team led the series 3–1, but Washington won three straight by a combined 14 points, taking Game 7 107–105, before losing the Finals in five.
Q 19In August 1979 the Bullets became the first NBA team to visit which country?
China
China: the Bullets were the first NBA team to play there, beating the army's Bayi Rockets in Beijing and winning again in Shanghai.
Q 20Which 7-foot-7 shot-blocker set a franchise record with 397 blocks as a Bullets rookie in 1985–86?
Manute Bol
Manute Bol: the Sudanese rookie's 397 blocks set an NBA rookie record, and he averaged more blocks (5.0) than points (3.7) a game.
Susan O'Malley: she joined the Bullets in 1986 as advertising director, became president at 29, and ran the business side until 2007.
Q 24Which 7-foot-7 centre won Most Improved Player with the Bullets in 1995–96?
Gheorghe Mureșan
Gheorghe Mureșan: the Romanian giant averaged 14.5 points in 1995–96 to win Most Improved Player, led the league in field-goal percentage twice, and starred in 1998's 'My Giant'.
Q 25Which forward did the Bullets acquire from Golden State in 1994 for Tom Gugliotta and three first-round picks?
Chris Webber
Chris Webber: he rejoined Michigan 'Fab Five' teammate Juwan Howard and became an All-Star in 1997, but a year later was traded to Sacramento for Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe.
Q 26Why did the team's owner decide in 1995 to drop the 'Bullets' name?
Its association with gun violence
Its association with gun violence: Washington then ranked among the worst American cities for murders, and the 1995 assassination of his friend Yitzhak Rabin sharpened his unease about the name.
Q 27Which name joined Wizards, Dragons, Express and Stallions as a finalist to replace the Bullets nickname?
Sea Dogs
Sea Dogs: fans phoned in votes on the five finalists, but the team announced Wizards as the winner without ever releasing the tallies.
Q 28Why did the 'Wizards' name generate controversy when it was adopted?
'Wizard' is a rank in the Ku Klux Klan
'Wizard' is a rank in the Ku Klux Klan: 'Imperial Wizard' and 'Grand Wizard' are Klan titles, an unwelcome echo in a city with a large African American majority.
Q 29The 1997 Wizards colours of blue, black and bronze matched which other team with the same owner?
Washington Capitals
Washington Capitals: the NHL team had dropped red, white and blue for the same palette two years earlier, and both clubs moved into a new downtown arena in 1997.
Q 30What did the Mystics, the Wizards' WNBA sister team, get in 2005?
A new owner
A new owner: the Wizards' owner sold the team to a group in which BET co-founder Sheila Johnson became Mystics president and managing partner, and the two clubs shared an owner again only in 2010.