CJ McCollum is the latest NBA star to discover this season’s secret to getting 50: Play against the Wizards.
CJ McCollum erupted for a career-high tying 50 points to lead the New Orleans Pelicans to their sixth win of the season against the Washington Wizards on Friday night. And while giving up half-a-Wilt to a player that had only scored more than 25 points in a game five times previously this season might seem like a depressing enough fact on its own for Wizards fans, it’s not the saddest stat of the evening.
That honor instead goes to this factoid from our friend Greg Finberg of Bullets Forever, who noted that of the NBA’s 50-point games allowed this season, half have come against the woeful pro basketball team based in Washington.
There have been eight 50-point games in the NBA this season.
— Greg Finberg (@GregFinberg) January 4, 2025
Four have come against the Washington Wizards.
D. Fox: 60
G. Antetokounmpo: 59
N. Jokic: 56 (vs. WAS)
J. Brunson: 55 (vs. WAS)
C. McCullum: 50 (vs. WAS)
V. Wembanyama: 50 (vs. WAS)
L. Ball: 50
P. Banchero: 50
The Wizards also let him get that many points in 31 minutes, two less than he’s averaging this season:
The only players in NBA history to have a game with 50 PTS & 10 3PM in less than 35 MIN:
— StatMamba (@StatMamba) January 4, 2025
Steph Curry
Klay Thompson
CJ McCollum pic.twitter.com/TzqVzVcVrr
A team that is 6-26 being bad on defense isn’t exactly breaking news, but at some point you would think some level of professional pride would kick in for the Wizards; that they could rally around the idea of, like, “let’s at least stop this guy at 49.”
That said, “professional” or “prideful” hasn’t been a word often used to describe these Wizards over the last two seasons, so maybe this is sort of a fitting (dis)honor for deeply unserious Jordan Poole/Kyle Kuzma-era Zards. And there are at least reasons for their fans to have hope for the future given the development of young players like Bilal Coulibaly and the fact that the team is finally, mercifully attempting a true teardown and rebuild that they’re only in the second season of... but man, it may be a long couple years for basketball fans in D.C.
Or maybe this period could be great, if viewed through another lens. After all, for fans of other NBA stars based in the U.S. capital, at least if they buy a ticket to see their team play the Wizards, they have a decent chance of watching them get a career-high while the home team plays carnival basketball! Washington’s sales staff should put that on some of their ads.
