“We’ve learnt a lot of lessons and now we have to figure out how to take some steps forward,” Unseld said of next season. “But I’m proud that we were able to go through some things this year and show a ton of resilience.”

Cooks will return to the NBA for the Wizards’ 2023-24 campaign.

With the regular season finishing imminently, Josh Giddey and Dyson Daniels are set to meet in the play-in tournament, where four teams from each conference compete for a total of four play-off spots.

Giddey’s Oklahoma City Thunder will face Daniels’ New Orleans Pelicans in the Western Conference tournament on Wednesday (Thursday AEST).

Both sides had already qualified for the play-in, so Giddey was one of a number of Thunder stars rested for the 115-100 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.

“We stepped up when they called us to just give our guys a rest going into the post-season,” the Thunder’s Tre Mann said.

“We went out there, played hard and had fun.”

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Daniels sat out the Pelicans’ 113-108 loss to Minnesota, whom they could face if they beat the Thunder this week.

The campaign is officially over for Australians Cooks, Josh Green and Matisse Thybulle, with Green’s Dallas Mavericks and Thybulle’s Portland Trail Blazers failing to qualify for the post-season.

Aussies Joe Ingles, Jock Landale, Patty Mills, Jack White and Matthew Dellavedova are all chances to play in the post-season along with Giddey and Daniels.

Ingles and his Milwaukee Bucks have the best shot of going deep into the play-offs after clinching the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

AAP

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