Breakout or Bust Year for the Former Seventh-Overall Pick?

Year three is often a turning point for young NBA players, and for Bilal Coulibaly, it could define his future with the Washington Wizards. Drafted seventh overall in 2023, the rangy wing was seen as a long-term project—oozing defensive upside and flashes of offensive potential but still raw in his overall game. Now, with two seasons of development behind him and a bigger role waiting, the question looms: will this be the year Coulibaly breaks out as a cornerstone piece, or will doubts about his offensive ceiling begin to overshadow his promise? For both Coulibaly and the Wizards, the stakes have never been higher.

To start last season, Coulibaly gave Wizards fans plenty of reasons to believe in his upside. In the opening stretch, he showcased his defensive instincts by guarding multiple positions, racking up steals, and using his length to disrupt passing lanes. Offensively, he looked confident attacking the rim and knocked down threes at an efficient rate, while averaging nearly 20 points, six rebounds, and a couple of assists per game. For a moment, it felt like he was starting to put the pieces together, flashing the kind of two-way impact that made him a top-ten pick and offering a glimpse of the player Washington hopes he can eventually become.

However, in the second half of the year, those flashes of greatness began to fade. His shooting percentage dipped, his confidence seemed to waver, and his aggressiveness wasn’t as consistent, leaving some Wizards fans less convinced than they had been early on. Even so, the latter half of the season still marked a significant improvement from the year before. His overall numbers continued to climb, and his impact on both ends of the floor showed there was still something special developing in his game.

As the season comes to a close, many young players take time off to rest and recover from the rigors of the schedule. That hasn’t been the case for Washington’s young forward. Bilal has spent his summer competing in EuroBasket 2025 alongside his teammate, Alex Sarr, using the opportunity to sharpen his skills and stay in peak physical shape. His commitment to continuous growth and improvement is exactly the kind of trait that separates promising prospects from future standouts. Given the strides he showed early last year and the work he’s put in since, it’s reasonable to expect Coulibaly to take the next step and deliver a true breakthrough season.