Claim: Moses Malone was on an NBA team.

The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington , D.C. . The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association -LRB- NBA -RRB- , as a member of the league 's Eastern Conference Southeast Division . The team plays its home games at the Verizon Center , in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington , D.C.   The franchise was established in 1961 as the Chicago Packers based in Chicago , Illinois , and were renamed to Chicago Zephyrs the following season . In 1963 , they relocated to Baltimore , Maryland and became the Baltimore Bullets , taking the name from previous team of the same name . In 1973 , the team changed its moniker to Capital Bullets to reflect their move to Washington metropolitan area , and then changed their name to Washington Bullets in the following season . In 1997 , they rebranded themselves to the Wizards .   The Wizards have appeared in four NBA Finals , and won in 1978 . They have won four conference titles -LRB- 1971 , 1975 , 1978 , 1979 -RRB- , and seven division titles -LRB- 1971 , 1972 , 1973 , 1974 , 1975 , 1979 , 2017 -RRB- . Wes Unseld is the only player in franchise history to become the MVP -LRB- 1969 -RRB- , and win the Finals MVP award -LRB- 1978 -RRB- . Four players -LRB- Walt Bellamy , Terry Dischinger , Earl Monroe and Wes Unseld -RRB- have won the Rookie of the Year award .