The Wizards are thankful for President-Elect Obama…

As we wrap up this holiday season and the calendar year, the Hit List recaps the best gifts received by each NBA team in 2008…

30. Oklahoma City Thunder (3-29) — For Clay Bennett: Just enough apathy. Nothing against the fans who fought to keep the Sonics in Seattle, but back when something could have been done, the city’s bureaucracy failed to step up and stop Bennett and Stern from jacking their team.

29. Minnesota Timberwolves (6-25) — New uniforms, new court. Anything to start fresh in the post-KG era.

28. Los Angeles Clippers (8-22) — For Baron Davis: Zach Randolph. However, like when you open a brand-new Xbox 360 but there’s some terrible game like “Rumble Roses” added as a stocking-stuffer, Mardy Collins came in the same package.

27. Sacramento Kings (8-24) — For John Salmons: Another Kevin Martin injury-plagued season. The League’s most prolific opportunist is putting up 19.7 points a night while K-Mart goes (not so much) in and (mostly) out of the lineup.

26. Washington Wizards (6-24) — Politics. An election year, Obama’s arrival, GW’s departure, the economic crisis … plenty of distractions for the citizens of D.C. to forget how bad their team is.

25. Charlotte Bobcats (11-21) — D.J. Augustin. Yeah, there’s some buyer’s remorse for not taking Brook Lopez when he was available, but Augustin (12.4 ppg, 4.3 apg) has been better than expected.

24. Indiana Pacers (10-21) — Experience. Something good has to come from all these blown second-half leads and last-minute losses, right?

O.J. Mayo, Dime #17

23. Memphis Grizzlies (10-22) — O.J. Mayo. And playing the part of Santa Claus, put your hands together for Kevin McHale!

22. New York Knicks (12-18) — For Chris Duhon: Everything. Once destined for career backup status, he’s clocking $12M on a two-year deal and playing in a system where any point guard with two eyes can average at least seven assists. Translation: An even more lucrative payday in 2010 when he’s putting up 15 and 10 a night.

21. Toronto Raptors (12-19) — For Jay Triano: Jake Voskuhl. Coach looks like he needs a laugh, and Voskuhl is hilarious without even trying. If he’s going to keep wearing that headband, we might have to watch every Raptors game from now on.

20. Golden State Warriors (10-23) — Thursday. As in the beginning of the new year. Losing Baron, missing out on Brand, voluntarily taking on “Bad Porn,” Monta’s injury, and the worst defense since Mike Tyson’s rape trial. 2009 can’t come soon enough.

19. Philadelphia 76ers (12-18) — For Mo Cheeks: Blessings in disguise. When the Bulls fire Vinny Del Negro this offseason, Mo Cheeks will be right there to become Derrick Rose’s new mentor.

18. New Jersey Nets (15-16) — For Vince Carter: Devin Harris and Brook Lopez. An upgrade (in most facets) over J-Kidd and a promising big man has VC looking motivated. It’s like every game is in Toronto.

17. Milwaukee Bucks (15-17) — For Joe Alexander: Lowered standards. Maybe we’re wrong, but back in the day we thought you actually had to have minutes and ideally some NBA highlights in order to crack the All-Star Weekend dunk contest field.

D-Wade (photo. Griffith)

16. Chicago Bulls (14-17) — Derrick Rose. This one’s pretty obvious.

15. Miami Heat (17-13) — A healthy D-Wade. See above.

14. Dallas Mavericks (19-12) — DirectTV. With 500-something channels to choose from, no one in Dallas has to watch Devin Harris highlights every night.

13. Utah Jazz (19-14) — For Paul Millsap: Carlos Boozer’s joints. Had he played behind more of an iron-man type (KG, Duncan, etc.), Millsap wouldn’t be slated for a gigantic raise.

12. Denver Nuggets (20-12) — Chauncey Billups. We haven’t seen George Karl this happy since the GP/Kemp era.

11. Houston Rockets (20-12) — Ron Artest. Overlooked in what he could bring to this team were the times when Ron-Ron picks up the scoring slack when T-Mac is out.

10. Detroit Pistons (18-11) — For Rodney Stuckey: Everything. Two years ago he was a projected second-round pick playing in the middle of nowhere. Now he’s on a title contender that traded away its best player to hand him the keys, and gave him a Hall of Fame scorer in the backcourt to ease the load.

9. Phoenix Suns (18-12) — For Shaquille O’Neal: The NBA’s best medical staff. They’ve added years onto Steve Nash’s back, which was supposed to fall apart sometime around 2006. They’ve made everyone forget Amare’s major knee surgery. They’ve made Grant Hill surprisingly reliable. And now they’ve helped what looked like a deteriorating Diesel get back to All-Star caliber.

8. Portland Trail Blazers (20-12) — For Greg Oden: Good health. It definitely wasn’t for lack of wishing. And 90 percent of those “Get Well!” wishes had to come from the Portland area.

7. San Antonio Spurs (20-10) — Tim Duncan’s game. It’s like an iTunes gift card. Not the most spectacular or creative think one can think of, but it always gets the job done, carries you through the bad days, and you won’t complain if you get the same thing every year.

6. New Orleans Hornets (19-9) — For David West, Tyson Chandler, Rasual Butler, etc.: Chris Paul. It wasn’t a brand-new gift, but the CP we’ve seen over the last year will be owed a nice chunk of money by guys like West, Chandler and Butler.

Josh Smith (photo. adidas)

5. Atlanta Hawks (21-10) — For the front office: Chris Wallace. Not as blatant as Wallace handing the Lakers Pau Gasol, but ATL saved itself a ton of money when the Grizzlies’ GM inked Josh Smith to a low-ball offer sheet and the Hawks matched in about seven seconds.

4. Orlando Magic (24-7) — For Jameer Nelson: The “A-ha” Moment. Unless your name is Chris Paul, Jason Kidd, Isiah Thomas or Magic Johnson, it usually takes NBA point guards a few years to really “get it.” Jameer (16.7 ppg, 5.2 apg) has reached that point, and he’s got the Magic in serious contention.

3. Cleveland Cavaliers (26-5) — For LeBron: Mo Williams. It’s hard to quantify the impact Mo has made on the team and on LeBron in particular; just know there’s no way the Cavs would be 12-1 this month or 16-0 at home this season without him. In a roundabout way, trading for Mo could ultimately play a big part in ‘Bron staying in Cleveland.

2. Boston Celtics (28-5) — Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Whatever happened to that preseason speculation on whether the C’s could defend their championship with the same hunger? So long as everyone is exposed to Garnett’s attitude and Ray’s maniacal workout habits, they aren’t slowing down anytime soon.

1. Los Angeles Lakers (25-5) — For Kobe Bryant: NBA Finals, Game Six. Now that the rest of the team knows the sting of getting oh-so-close to the mountaintop, they’ve come back stronger, better, and have allowed Kobe to pick his spots to be dominant. If Mamba paces himself and peaks at the right time, L.A. will meet those preseason title expectations.