The Washington Wizards changed their uniforms, colors and logo in a ceremony on Tuesday, which inevitably leads to the next question: what about the nickname? The nickname "Wizards" has always been an unpopular one among the fanbase, and there's been a sentiment that the team should change the name back to "Bullets." In fact, the new jerseys de-emphasize the Wizards' nickname, with the road ones saying "Washington" rather than "Wizards."
Wizards owner Ted Leonsis skirted around the name change issue when asked about it at Tuesday's event, but he also didn't exactly rule it out. Via Bullets Forever.
"If you change the name, it's intellectual property. It's literally a 25-month period. It ripples through everything. Every team and every building now has to change its name. The people in Milwaukee, when they play our team now, their network has to change their name. Whereas, if it's a color change, it's a change, but it's not the name. I wanted this to be important, but not the major thing that we focused on. I think we accomplished what we set out to do, show that there's a new generation and a new franchise, but show an appropriate amount of respect to the past, especially the teams that won those championships."
Leonsis was asked if this move was essentially like changing the name back to "Bullets" without actually doing so, and he said yes.