The Washington Wizards are a good basketball team. But, how many of your non-basketball fan friends know the team even exists?

The lack of coverage has hurt the Wizards. Prior to last season, it was tough to envision John Wall on the NBA All-Star team. Players like Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving, both of whom aren’t better than Wall, got a lot more coverage than the East’s best point guard.

Before Paul Pierce joined the team, Washington rarely got any television time. The likes of Wall, Bradley Beal and Marcin Gortat were relatively unknown, while the miserable Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks were constantly on national television.

This season, the team won’t get a ton of time on national television. In fact, they’ll only play five games on national TV this season. Last year, they played ten.

The departure of Pierce has certainly hurt the team’s image. Are they a worse team without him? Absolutely not; Ernie Grunfeld acquired numerous wing players that will fill the veteran and scoring void. The average-Joe doesn’t know that, though.

The Washington Wizards deserve more coverage. It’s really that simple. Wall is a top-12/15 player in the NBA, Bradley Beal is a rising star and they’re playing winning basketball. But as we all know, the franchises everyone is familiar with will continue to dominate the national stage.

Of course, I wouldn’t be writing this if there wasn’t a #PositivePixel attached.

Washington has two more games to play before concluding their preseason. They’ll head to Miami soon to take on the Heat and then they’ll play the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.

Their game against the Heat will surprisingly be available to the national audience.

According to a press release from ESPN, the Washington Wizards-Miami Heat game will be broadcasted on television:

On Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m., Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat will host John Wall and the Washington Wizards (ESPN/WatchESPN). Calling the action will be play-by-play analyst Mark Jones and analyst Hubie Brown. Preceding the Wizards-Heat preseason matchup, NBA Countdown returns with its season premiere with discussion of key NBA storylines and season predictions from host Sage Steele and analysts Jalen Rose and Doug Collins (Oct. 21, 7:30 p.m., ESPN/WatchESPN). ESPN NBA preseason games and NBA Countdown on ESPN are also available on WatchESPN.

Nene and DeJuan Blair are expected to miss tomorrow night’s game in Miami, but as the press release pointed out, we’re still going to see one of the best battle of the guards the league has to offer.

Dwyane Wade, who’s still one of the best shooting guards in the NBA, is nearing the end of his dominant career. Beal is hoping to make the All-Star team for the first time in his career. Seeing a legend and a rising star collide, even if it’s just preseason, always makes for an interesting storyline.

On the other side, we’ll get to see Goran Dragic and Wall go at it.

Dragic was named to an All-NBA team over Wall last year, even though most pundits believed Wall deserved the recognition. Regardless, Dragic is entering his first full season with the Heat and Wall is looking to become an MVP candidate. Their styles are different, but they’re obviously both great at what they do individually.

Both the Heat and Wizards are expected to compete for a top spot in the Southeast Division. The Atlanta Hawks were the best team in the conference during the regular season and finished with the division title. The Charlotte Hornets also revamped their roster and are looking to regain a spot in the NBA Playoffs.

For the first time this season, we’ll get to see the Miami Heat and Washington Wizards collide on national television. It might not be a regular season game, but the intensity should be higher than a typical exhibition.