Bilal Coulibaly is making the leap in his second season with the Wizards

A lot of people haven’t watched the Washington Wizards this season, and, given the team’s 2-13 record, it’s hard to blame them. But that also means that a lot of basketball fans have missed out on the pure joy of watching their young forward, Bilal Coulibaly.

He won’t be the most-hyped French prospect in the league this season — that honor will of course go to Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs — but right now, Coulibaly is putting together a sophomore season worthy of the Most Improved Player award. In a season full of blight in D.C., he is proving to be a bright spot for one of the basement dwellers in the NBA.

Last year, he was the No. 7 overall pick and had a promising rookie season that saw him finish with averages of 8.4 points per game, 4.1 rebounds per game, and just under two stocks (steals plus blocks) per game in just 27 minutes per contest. He had a lot of promising flashes, specifically on the defensive end of the floor, and made good use of his long 7’2 wingspan — mainly by disrupting passing lanes and weak side rim protection.

All at age 19. When his previous professional experience was in France’s second division.

In his rookie season, he recorded a block rate of 2.3% (meaning he blocked 2.3% of his opponents’ shots) and a steal rate of 1.6%. He’s mostly maintained those rates despite a significant uptick in minutes, with a block rate of 1.7% and a steal rate of 1.7% in 2024. Of players playing at least 30 minutes per game, only 21 match or exceed those averages: Anthony Davis, Jalen Suggs, OG Anunoby, Bam Adebayo, and Wembanyama.

Plays like the one above show the progress Coulibaly has made this season. Not only is he keeping the defense up that made him a promising rookie, but Coulibaly has also had far more confidence and opportunity on offense. He didn’t shoot poorly from beyond the arc as a rookie, but he’s taken more challenging three-pointers this season.

He has also had more responsibility in terms of playmaking off the dribble for this year’s Wizards. He’s taking 68.4% of his shots inside the arc, and an astonishing 39.2% at the rim. That’s slightly less than last season in terms of percentage, but in terms of volume it’s more. So far, he has taken 51 shots at the rim in 14 games, according to the NBA’s official stats site. He took 212 shots there last season. If you take the amount he did in his first few games, he’d be on pace for 255 attempts if he played in even just 70 games.

Coulibaly has also been a far improved finisher this year. In his rookie season, he was a bit below league average for forwards, making 67% of his shots at the rim. This season though, he’s up to 76.5% from there this season. That puts him among the best in the league like Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, and Kevin Durant. He also has become a very good midrange scorer this season, making 45.2% of his shots there so far, per Cleaning The Glass. That puts him at 61.7% from within the arc. Only ten players are at or above that while playing at least 30 minutes per game: Domantas Sabonis, Rudy Gobert, and Christian Braun.

Coulibaly has also gotten far better as a scoring option and playmaking threat.

In the play above for instance, he takes Jonathan Isaac — someone largely regarded as one of the best defenders in the league — off the bounce. When he drives, the defense focuses on him. Mo Wagner helps on the drive, and leaves Jonas Valanciunas open. Coulibaly throws the pass and hits him for a wide-open layup.

He’s not making the most complex reads, but taking a leap from someone who was negligible-to-bad on offense as a rookie — outside of some cutting and the occasional catch-and-shoot three — to a sophomore who the defense has to focus on is a very encouraging step. It’s all part of Coulibaly shaping up to have a unique combination of defensive utility and offensive juice.

This is admittedly one of those unique stats you’d see to hype up a player on a local broadcast, but it’s still worth noting that Coulibaly is the only player in their second year to record at least 25 minutes per game, a 1.5% steal and block rate, a two-point field goal percentage of 60%, a three-point percentage of at least 35%, and assist rate of at least 10% in NBA history. If you take away the assist rate, then Trey Murphy III and Mikal Bridges join him. Both of those wings are held in high regard, and if Coulibaly can grow into that mold while providing some more playmaking and off-the-bounce scoring — he could be well on his way to becoming a future All-Star.

And if he really can make that leap, the Wizards just may have the magic spark their rebuild needs.