Wizards apologize after scripted April Fools joke in which 'fan' thought they won $10,000 falls flat

The Washington Wizards are doing damage control after a scripted April Fools prank went wrong during Wednesday’s game. Following criticism and anger from fans, the team issued an apology Thursday after making it look like a fan missed out on winning $10,000.

The prank occurred at halftime of the Wizards’ 153-131 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. The team ran a promotion where a blindfolded fan would win $10,000 if they hit a halfcourt shot. The fan missed the shot, but the team and the mascots on the court celebrated as if the shot went in and the fan won the money.

Then, the team cruelly showed a replay of the missed shot, and announced that the fan didn’t actually win $10,000.

In the moment, it looked like a pretty nasty thing to do to someone who spent money to watch the Wizards in 2026.

But that isn’t actually what happened. In their apology post Thursday, the team revealed that the entire promotion was scripted and involved members of their performance team — Wizards employees who run game-day operations or hype up the crowd.

Problem is, the team didn’t reveal that information in the moment, leading fans to question why the team would put such a heartless prank on an innocent fan. That mistake was likely also what led to the team feeling as though it needed to apologize Thursday.

The Wizards weren’t the only NBA entity that missed the mark on April Fools day. Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid claimed he was playing in Tuesday’s game despite being listed out on the team’s injury report due to illness.

Embiid sent out multiple tweets at odds with the team’s injury report, though ultimately did not play in the win. It’s still unclear whether Embiid was joking.

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