The Chicago Bulls play host to the Washington Wizards at United Center on Wednesday.

The Wizards (30-41) own a 6-5 record across their last 11 games, as they're holding on to playoff hopes by a thread. In fact, Washington finds themselves 4.5 games back from the Miami Heat in eighth. That's probably too large of a margin to make up in just 11 games, especially when you consider the fact that the Charlotte Hornets and Orlando Magic are ahead of them too. Staying alive this long is impressive in itself with John Wall (heel) out for the year but this record is nothing to be proud of. There's simply too much talent on this team to be sitting this far below .500 and it's clear that their 29th-ranked defense is a major reason why. Missing Dwight Howard for most of the year didn't help either and it looks like they'll just have to build for next year, even with Wall expected to miss most of that season too.

The Bulls (20-52) come into this matchup losing five of their last six games but have been playing much better in the second half. In fact, Chicago owned a 6-3 record before this six-game slide, as they've seen some serious improvement from their young players. Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen have been especially good and it's clear that's going to be the core for the future. They also appear to have found something with Otto Porter Jr. The Washington send-off has come into this rotation with ease and filled the wing role fluidly that they were expecting from Jabari Parker. That's a formidable threesome heading forward and it could be even better if they got more consistent play from Kris Dunn.

This is the third of four meetings between these teams, with the road team winning each of the first two outings. Coming into the year, Washington won five of their previous six games over Chicago.