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Big fan of <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-washington-huskies-basketball-players/ranker-ncaa-basketball?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Washington basketball</a>? Then check out this list of Washington Wizards centers with photos and seasons played with the team.&nbsp;It includes almost every center from throughout <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-washington-wizrds-point-guards/ranker-nba?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Washington Wizards history</a>, including current centers and past ones. Featuring some of the&nbsp;<a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/greatest-centers-of-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">greatest NBA centers</a> of all time,&nbsp;the best Wizards&nbsp;Cs include Wes Unseld, Moses Malone, Elvin Hayes, and Walt Bellamy.In the 2017-18 NBA season, the current Washington Wizards starting Cs and backup Cs are Marcin Gortat and Ian Mahinmi.&nbsp; Who are the best centers in Washington Wizards history? Here is every player who has ever held the position of Washington Wizards&nbsp;center.

The 25+ Best Washington Wizards Centers of All Time, Ranked

The Best Washington Wizards Centers of All Time

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Wes Unseld

Westley Sissel Unseld (born March 14, 1946) is an American former basketball player. He spent his entire NBA career with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets, and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988.

Elvin Hayes

Elvin Ernest Hayes (born November 17, 1945) is an American retired professional basketball player and radio analyst for his alma-mater Houston Cougars. He is a member of the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, and an inductee in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Moses Malone

Moses Eugene Malone (March 23, 1955 – September 13, 2015) was an American basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1974 through 1995. A center, he was named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times, was a 12-time NBA All-Star and an eight-time All-NBA Team selection. Malone led the Philadelphia 76ers to an NBA championship in 1983, winning both the league and Finals MVP. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2001.
Malone began his professional career out of high school after he was selected in the third round of the 1974 ABA Draft by the Utah Stars. He was named an ABA All-Star as a rookie and played two seasons in the league until it merged with the NBA in 1976. He landed in the NBA with the Buffalo Braves, who traded him after two games to the Houston Rockets. Malone became a five-time All-Star in six seasons with the Rockets. After leading the NBA in rebounding in 1979, he was named league MVP for the first time. He led the Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981, and won his second MVP award in 1982. Traded to Philadelphia the following season,  he repeated as MVP and led the 76ers to the 1983 championship. In his first of two stints with Philadelphia, he was an All-Star in each of his four seasons. Following another trade, Malone was an All-Star in his only two seasons with the then Washington Bullets (today's Wizards). He signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Hawks, earning his 12th straight and final NBA All-Star selection in his first season. In his later years, he played with the Milwaukee Bucks before returning to the 76ers and completing his career with the San Antonio Spurs.
Malone was a tireless and physical player who led the NBA in rebounding six times, including a then-record five straight seasons (1981–1985).  Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Boards" for his rebounding prowess, he finished his career as the all-time leader in offensive rebounds after leading both the ABA and NBA in the category a combined nine times. Combining his ABA and NBA statistics, Malone ranks ninth all-time in career points (29,580) and third in total rebounds (17,834). He was named to both the ABA All-Time Team and the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.

Walt Bellamy

Walter Jones Bellamy (July 24, 1939 – November 2, 2013) was an American professional basketball player. A four-time NBA All-Star, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Chris Webber

Mayce Edward Christopher Webber III (born March 1, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player. He is a five-time NBA All-Star, a five-time All-NBA Team member, a former NBA Rookie of the Year, and a former number one overall NBA draftee. As a collegiate athlete, he was a first-team All-American and led the Michigan Wolverines' 1991 incoming freshman class known as the Fab Five that reached the 1992 and 1993 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship games as freshmen and sophomores. However, Webber was indicted by a federal grand jury and stripped of his All-American honors by the NCAA as a result of his direct involvement in the Ed Martin scandal. He is also a former National High School Basketball Player of the Year who led his high school Detroit Country Day to three Michigan State High School Basketball Championships, but never won any national championship in college or the NBA.

Marcin Gortat

Marcin Gortat (Polish pronunciation: ['mar.t͡ɕiŋ 'ɡɔr.tat]; born February 17, 1984) is a Polish professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 6 ft 11 in, 240-pound center is the son of boxer Janusz Gortat. He was a second-round draft choice of the Phoenix Suns in the 2005 NBA draft and has also played for the Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards, and Los Angeles Clippers.

Rick Mahorn

Derrick Allen Mahorn (born September 21, 1958) is an American retired National Basketball Association (NBA) player who played power forward and center. He is currently a radio analyst for the Detroit Pistons  and works as a co-host/analyst on SiriusXM NBA Radio.
Mahorn was dubbed by Piston announcer George Blaha the "Baddest Bad Boy of them all." Mahorn gained a reputation for physical play, which he used to compensate for his relatively limited leaping ability. He served as a team leader of the Detroit Bad Boys teams of the late 1980s, winning his only NBA Championship in 1989 along with captain Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, and Dennis Rodman among others.

JaVale McGee

JaVale Lindy McGee (born January 19, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for Denver Nuggets in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected 18th overall by the Washington Wizards in the 2008 NBA draft. He is a two-time NBA champion, having won consecutive titles with the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018 before signing with the Lakers.

LeRoy Ellis

LeRoy Ellis (March 10, 1940 – June 2, 2012) was an American basketball player.

Cliff Robinson

Clifford Trent Robinson (born March 13, 1960) is a retired American professional basketball player.

Gheorghe Mureșan

Gheorghe Dumitru Mureșan (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈɡe̯orɡe mureˈʃan] (listen); born February 14, 1971), also known as "Ghiță" (Romanian: [ˈɡit͡sə]), is a Romanian retired professional basketball player. At 7 feet 7.5 inches (2.324 m), he is the tallest player ever to have played in the NBA.

Pervis Ellison

Pervis Ellison (born April 3, 1967) is an American former National Basketball Association (NBA) player.
Ellison was nicknamed "Never Nervous Pervis" for his play with the University of Louisville.  At 6 ft 9 in and 242 lb, he started all four years as the center under coach Denny Crum.  In his freshman year he led Louisville to its second national championship and was named the Most Outstanding Player—the second time a freshman had ever been awarded that honor, after Arnie Ferrin in 1944 for Utah.
Ellison was made the first overall pick in the 1989 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. Teammate Danny Ainge gave Ellison the nickname "Out of Service Pervis" for the many injuries that would plague him during his professional career. An injury kept him on the sidelines for 48 of 82 games of his rookie year, after which he was traded to the Washington Bullets in a three-team trade involving the Utah Jazz that also sent Jeff Malone to the Jazz and Eric Leckner, Bob Hansen, and draft picks to the Kings. Although he was assigned as a backup in 1990–1991, the following year he became a starter and earned Most Improved Player honors after averaging 20.0 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.68 blocks per game.
Assorted injuries plagued his career, including two knee problems that kept him benched for 29 games in 1992–1993 and 30 games in 1993–1994.  As a free agent, Ellison signed with the Boston Celtics in 1994 but did not play until midway through the season because he was still rehabilitating from knee problems.  A broken toe suffered while moving furniture kept him out of most games between 1996 and 1998. After participating in 69 out of a possible 246 games over the final three seasons with the Celtics, he joined the Seattle SuperSonics in 2000 but retired after playing nine games. He once coached basketball for Life Center Academy in Burlington, New Jersey and is a resident of Voorhees Township, New Jersey.

Juwan Howard

Juwan Antonio Howard (born February 7, 1973) is the head basketball coach at the University of Michigan. He was an assistant coach for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 2013 to 2019. Howard played in the NBA from 1994 until 2013.
A one-time All-Star and one-time All-NBA power forward, he began his NBA career as the fifth overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft, selected by the Washington Bullets. Before he was drafted, he starred as an All-American on the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team. At Michigan he was part of the Fab Five recruiting class of 1991 that reached the finals of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship in 1992 and 1993. Howard won his first NBA championship with Miami in the 2012 NBA Finals and his second NBA championship in the 2013 NBA Finals.
Howard was an All-American center and an honors student at Chicago Vocational Career Academy. Michigan was able to sign him early over numerous competing offers and then convince others in his recruiting class to join him. The Fab Five, which included Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson, served as regular starters during their freshman and sophomore years for the 1991–92 and 1992–93 Wolverines. Howard was the last member of the Fab Five to remain active as a professional basketball player. Although many of the Wolverines' accomplishments from 1992 to 1998 were forfeited due to the University of Michigan basketball scandal, which involved booster payments to players to launder money from illegal gambling, Howard's 1993–94 All-American season continues to be recognized.
Howard played six-and-a-half seasons (1994–2001) for the Bullets franchise (renamed the Wizards in 1997), three full seasons (2004–07) for the Houston Rockets, two plus seasons for the Heat and shorter stints for several other teams. During his rookie year with the Bullets, he became the first player to graduate on time with his class after leaving college early to play in the NBA. After one season as an All-Rookie player and a second as an All-Star and an All-NBA performer, he became the first NBA player to sign a $100 million contract. While he continued to be a productive starter, he was never again selected to play in an All-Star Game. Towards the end of his contract, he was traded at the NBA trade deadline twice to make salary cap room. He was most recently a regular starter during the 2005–06 NBA season. In 2010, he signed with the Heat and entered his 17th NBA season, during which he reached the playoffs for the sixth time and made his first career NBA Finals appearance. He remained with the Heat the following season and won his first NBA championship during the 2012 NBA Finals. He returned to the Heat for part of the following season, and won a second championship. Howard has developed a reputation as a humanitarian for his civic commitment.

Jim Barnes

Velvet James Barnes (April 13, 1941 – September 14, 2002), also affectionately known as Jim "Bad News" Barnes, was an American basketball player, who was an Olympic Gold Medalist and the No. 1 overall pick of the 1964 NBA draft.

Woody Sauldsberry

Woodrow Sauldsberry Jr. (July 11, 1934 – September 3, 2007) was an American National Basketball Association (NBA) player.
Sauldsberry was born in Winnsboro, Louisiana and graduated from Compton Union High School, where he was the star of his basketball team, and then went on to attend Texas Southern University.  In 1957 he was drafted in Round 8 by the Philadelphia Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors). The following year in 1958, he was named the league's Rookie of the Year — the second African American ever to win the award and becoming the lowest overall draft pick ever to win the award, a record he still holds. In 1959 he played in the NBA All-Star Game.  Later in his career he played for the St. Louis Hawks, Chicago Zephyrs and Boston Celtics.
Statistically, Woody Sauldsberry was an extremely poor shooter, having a field goal percentage of just 34.8% for his career.  As a result, he has the lowest number of win shares of any player in NBA history, -7.9.During the 1950s Sauldsberry was part of the Harlem Globetrotters.
After becoming bitter over discrimination and shunning the basketball world, he died in poverty in Baltimore, Maryland after having a foot amputated due to diabetes.

Brendan Haywood

Brendan Todd Haywood (born November 27, 1979) is an American retired professional basketball player who played the center position. He was a member of the NBA championship-winning 2011 Dallas Mavericks. Following his playing career, Haywood became a college basketball announcer for CBS Sports and a co-host/analyst on SiriusXM NBA Radio.

Jeff Ruland

Jeffrey George Ruland (born December 16, 1958) is a retired American basketball player and current coach. He is the former head coach of the Iona Gaels men's basketball team and the UDC Firebirds men's college basketball team.

Terry Davis

Terry Raymond Davis (born June 17, 1967) is a retired American professional basketball player who, at 6'10" and 225 lb, played as a power forward and center for the Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards, and Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Like two similar players, Charles Oakley before him and Ben Wallace (also undrafted) after him, Davis attended Virginia Union University and made a name for himself as a hard-nosed defensive player and rebounder.

Ray Scott

John Raymond "Ray" Scott (born July 12, 1938) is a retired American basketball player and coach.

Emeka Okafor

Chukwuemeka Ndubuisi "Emeka" Okafor (born September 28, 1982) is an American professional basketball player. Okafor attended Bellaire High School in Bellaire, Texas and the University of Connecticut, where in 2004 he won a national championship.

Christian Laettner

Christian Donald Laettner (, LAYT-nər; born August 17, 1969) is a retired American basketball player whose Hall of Fame career for the Duke Blue Devils is widely regarded as one of the best in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) history. He was the star player on the back-to-back National Championship teams of 1991 and 1992, and the NCAA player of the year in his senior year. He is particularly famous for his game-winning shot against Kentucky in the 1992 tournament and for the hatred he received from opposing fans.
Laettner was the only collegian selected for the elite "Dream Team" that dominated the 1992 Olympics; the team is enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was drafted third overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves, then played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for six teams. The highlight was being selected for the 1997 All-Star Game while with the Atlanta Hawks.

Otis Thorpe

Otis Henry Thorpe (born August 5, 1962) is an American retired professional basketball player who played for several teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was an NBA All-Star in 1992 and won an NBA championship with the Houston Rockets in 1994.

Mitch Kupchak

Mitchell Kupchak (born May 24, 1954) is an American professional basketball executive and retired player. He is the current president of basketball operations and general manager of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a college player, Kupchak was an All-American at the University of North Carolina and a member of the gold medal-winning 1976 United States Olympic team. As a professional player, he won three NBA titles – one as a member of the Washington Bullets and two with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Jahidi White

Jahidi White (born February 19, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the NBA.

Charlie Tyra

Charles E. Tyra (August 16, 1935 – December 29, 2006) was an American basketball player who is best known as the first Louisville Cardinal All-American.

Big fan of Washington basketball? Then check out this list of Washington Wizards centers with photos and seasons played with the team.&nbsp;It includes almost ...