Wizards Will Face Raptors Amidst Calls For Brian Keefe's Job

At 5-23 with an uncomfortable number of games left to be played in the 2025-26 season, the Washington Wizards are in the middle of a rebuild that, to many fans, must feel perpetual. Talent is drafted in, cycled out and spelled by inconsistent play from veterans who end up disposed through equivalent measures.

As the team prepares to face the Toronto Raptors (18-13) to kick off the post-Christmas weekend, those very fans are pointing fingers every which way online, working in chaotic unison to try and figure out who is to blame for a plainly talented team failing miserably to come together. As has been the case all year, one prominent figure ends up under the gaze of ticket-holding accusers.

Head coach Brian Keefe, in just his second year behind the wheel, is under growingly significant fire. As the Wizards have continued to lose - and Keefe, to flounder - public criticism for the coach went from occasional to commonplace.

Unfavored in Every Game

Wizards fans may want a change; whether or not it happens is irrelevant to the fact that, as usual, Washington will face another unfavorable matchup this weekend.

"Brian Keefe continues to show an inability to adjust when it matters most," wrote The Daily Collegian's Greg Finberg, in a post on X (Twitter) that would amass more than 100 supporters in the wake of Washington's recent loss to the Charlotte Hornets.

Brian Keefe continues to show an inability to adjust when it matters most.

Another game where the Wizards get blitzed in the 4th quarter and have zero response despite several timeouts.

Staring down another double-digit loss to the Hornets.
— Greg Finberg (@GregFinberg) December 24, 2025

"Another game where the Wizards get blitzed in the 4th quarter and have zero response despite several timeouts."

Keefe has become notorious this season for trying to wrangle, if you will, his team chock-full of young, hungry personalities. His teams start hot and finish poorly, seemingly finding new ways to spur controversy from within the franchise at every corner in-between.

Full clip of Wizards HC Brian Keefe speaking about the decision to bench Cam Whitmore against the Hawks last night

"We have certain standards that we have for our team. He has to live up to those on the better. And he'll have a chance here, but that's gonna be up to him when… pic.twitter.com/BE4EEBGmLr
— SleeperWizards (@SleeperWizards) December 7, 2025

Another Bad Matchup

For a Washington team that has only managed five wins thus far, the Raptors - currently placed fourth in the Eastern Conference - represent another mountain to climb if the team wants to win.

Led by the three-headed scoring threat that is Scottie Barnes, Brandon Ingram and Immanuel Quickley, Toronto's size and length are exactly the sort of nightmare that a league-worst defensive team would hate to encounter.

Washington, as a league-worst defensive team themselves, don't fare particularly well.

So as the Wizards take a much-needed holiday break prior to their date with the Raptors, now is as good a time as any to rethink the franchise's future from the top-down. Only so much of the team's failures can be pinned on its players.

Make sure you bookmark Washington Wizards on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!