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 arena, shared with the city's NHL team, take in 2017?
Capital One Arena
Capital One Arena: the building opened as the MCI Center in December 1997, became Verizon Center in 2006, and took the Capital One name in August 2017.
Q 02The team'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 franchise called during its second season, 1962–63, its last in Chicago?
Zephyrs
Zephyrs: the renamed Chicago Zephyrs played one season, 1962–63, with Rookie of the Year Terry Dischinger, before the franchise moved to Baltimore.
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 starred for the 1961–62 Chicago Packers, averaging 31.6 points and 19 rebounds a game?
Walt Bellamy
Walt Bellamy: the 1961 first overall pick won Rookie of the Year and led the league in field-goal percentage while the Packers finished 18–62.
Q 06Which owner bought the Bullets with two partners for $1.1 million in 1964 and held the team until 2009?
Abe Pollin
Abe Pollin: he bought in for $1.1 million in 1964, became sole owner in 1968, 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 won Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same 1968–69 season, a double achieved only by Wilt Chamberlain before him, then was Finals MVP in 1978.
Q 08With which pick did the Bullets draft both Earl Monroe (1967) and their future MVP centre (1968)?
Second overall
Second overall: Monroe went second behind Jimmy Walker in 1967, and the centre went second a year later, after which the Bullets jumped from 36 wins to 57.
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 name lasted one season, 1973–74, at the new Capital Centre in Landover, before the club became the Washington Bullets in 1974.
Q 12On which college campus did the Bullets play in November 1973 while their new arena was finished?
Maryland
Maryland: the Bullets used the University of Maryland's Cole Field House in College Park until the Capital Centre opened in Landover on December 2, 1973.
Q 13What regular-season record did the Bullets post in 1974–75?
60–22
60–22: the 1974–75 Bullets won a franchise-record 60 games, ran away with the Central Division, and reached the Finals, where they were swept.
Q 21Which centre did the Bullets acquire from Philadelphia in 1986 in exchange for Jeff Ruland?
Moses Malone
Moses Malone: the three-time MVP arrived with Terry Catledge for Ruland and Cliff Robinson and led the 1986–87 Bullets with 24.1 points a game in a 42–40 season.
Q 22Which 5-foot-3 guard, the shortest player in NBA history, did the Bullets draft 12th overall in 1987?
Muggsy Bogues
Muggsy Bogues: the 5-foot-3 Wake Forest guard played one season in Washington before Charlotte took him in the 1988 expansion draft, and he became a Hornets legend.
Q 23Which executive did the Bullets name as the first female president of an NBA franchise?
Susan O'Malley
Q 14Which team stunned the heavily favoured Bullets with a four-game sweep in the 1975 NBA Finals?
Golden State Warriors
Golden State Warriors: Rick Barry's Warriors, coached by Al Attles, won Games 1 and 4 at the Capital Centre and Games 2 and 3 at the Cow Palace.
Q 15Which team did the Bullets beat in seven games to win the 1978 NBA championship?
Seattle SuperSonics
Seattle SuperSonics: Washington won Game 7 in Seattle 105–99, the city's first major pro title since the Redskins' 1942 NFL championship.
Q 16Which phrase, popularised by sportswriter Dan Cook, became the rallying cry of the 1978 title run?
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings
It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings: coach Dick Motta repeated Cook's line throughout the 1978 playoffs as the underdog Bullets kept winning.
Q 17What was the Bullets' regular-season record in their 1977–78 championship season?
44–38
44–38: the Bullets won only 44 regular-season games in 1977–78, then went 14–7 in the playoffs 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
They beat George Gervin's Spurs 107–105 before losing the Finals to Seattle in five.
Q 19In August 1979 the Bullets became the first NBA team to visit which country?
China
China: the Bullets toured in August 1979 as the first NBA team to play there, beating the army's Bayi Rockets and a Shanghai team.
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 in 1985–86 set an NBA rookie record and averaged just under five a game.
Susan O'Malley: having joined the Bullets' front office in 1986, she rose to the presidency, the first woman to hold that post in the NBA, and oversaw the business side for over a decade.
Q 24Which 7-foot-7 Romanian 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 reunited with Michigan Fab Five teammate Juwan Howard, but shoulder injuries and off-court trouble led to a May 1998 trade to Sacramento.
Q 26Why did the team's owner decide in 1995 to drop the 'Bullets' name?
It had acquired violent overtones amid D.C.'s crime rate
It had acquired violent overtones amid D.C.'s crime rate: with Washington suffering one of the nation's highest murder rates, and shaken by the assassination of his friend Yitzhak Rabin, he announced the change in November 1995.
Q 27Which of these was NOT among the five finalists in the contest to rename the Bullets?
Monuments
Monuments was never on the list: the five finalists were Dragons, Express, Sea Dogs, Stallions and the winning Wizards, adopted for the 1997–98 season.
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
The Capitals had made the same switch from red, white and blue two years earlier.
Q 30In 1998 the Wizards became the 'brother team' of which WNBA franchise?
Washington Mystics
Washington Mystics: the WNBA expansion side launched in 1998 under the same ownership, were sold off in 2005, and came back under common ownership with the Wizards in 2010.