The Good the Bad and the 0 for...

The Wizards have been polarizing in Las Vegas Summer League for a few different reasons

(Photo credit: Washington Wizards)

Bub Carrington was almost able to pull off an astonishing comeback attempt as he stole the inbounds pass and put up a contested mid-range jumper that would have tied the game against the Portland Trail Blazers, instead the shot missed and the Wizards lost 82-80 to go 1-2 in the Las Vegas Summer League. In a normal year, Carrington’s performance would be the talk of the town for the Wizards in Las Vegas as the 18 year old first round draft pick is averaging 19.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists, on 42.3% shooting from 3-point range.

Carrington has impressed many in Vegas with his off the bounce shot creation and overall tenacity as a lead guard. He has looked every bit the part of a potential NBA star, but somehow he is not the main story of the Wizards at NBA Summer League, that honor is bestowed upon the Wizards second overall draft pick who has struggled mightily offensively. Alex Sarr finished the game against the Blazers and 7th overall pick Donovan Clingan with zero points on 0/15 shooting from the floor, 0/7 from 3-point range, and 0/2 from the free throw line. When the Wizards drafted Sarr, they knew that his offensive game was a work in progress and that they were taking him so high in the draft because of his defensive versatility. 

Defensively, Sarr has lived up to the hype, as he has shown the flashes of a potential maven on that end of the floor. Sarr has great defensive length which has allowed him to be an adequate shot blocker and he moves his feet quite well for a player who is 7-foot-1, which has allowed him to be able to stay in front of players on the perimeter.  Offensively, Sarr has left much to be desired on the court and it goes beyond the results of not being able to make shots, it's the kind of shots he’s taking… or better yet not taking. There was so much chatter in the pre-draft process about Sarr wanting to play a lot of power forward instead of center and the way he has started summer league, that has held true. Sarr is taking a lot of contested jump shots and not nearly enough shots at the rim. The way the Wizards develop Sarr’s game will be the first major challenge for the Wizards front office and coaching staff to show that they can put together a developmental program for young players to grow into a system.

Luckily for Alex Sarr, the Wizards went out and signed Jonas Valančiūnas to not only play the role of starting center on the team, but to be able to mentor Sarr about the intricacies of playing the big man role in today’s NBA. As far as what the Wizards should expect from Sarr for the rest of summer league, I think there should be an emphasis from the coaching staff for Sarr to get in the paint and try to do a lot more of his work around the basket instead of coming out and taking jump shot after jump shot.

The Wizards third first round pick, Kyshawn George has impressed with his shooting ability and with his size, that skill should be able to easily translate to the NBA game. George moves really well on the court without the ball and doesn’t force a lot of action, allowing the game to come to him. George’s game is extremely smooth, he’s a willing passer, and he pays with NBA pace and movement. The Wizards should be able to find a role for him during the regular season.

The same cannot be said for third year forward Patrick Baldwin Jr who made his summer league debut and did not put forth the best outing. Baldwin Jr and Johnny Davis are two very interesting cases for this Wizards front office because it is becoming quite clear that neither one of these players are in the long term plans for the future of the franchise, but at what point do the Wizards cut their losses with these prospects? 

Both players have guaranteed contracts for the 2024-25 season, but neither player has a definitive role on the regular season team. Depending on what happens with the Wizards in the trade market over the next few weeks, these players could be used as salary filler to help facilitate a trade or may just have to be released to create roster spots if the team were to acquire more players then they send out.

Free Agency News and Notes

Since my last blog post the Wizards have made a few transactions with the roster, the first of which was the release of guard Landry Shamet. With a salary of $11 million, the Wizards tried their very best to trade Shamet and while there were teams that were interested in his services, they weren’t willing to sacrifice any draft capital to acquire him, in fact teams were asking the Wizards for a 2nd round pick to take on his contract. As I have stated many times before, the Wizards aren’t in the business of sending out draft capital for the foreseeable future, so the best course of action was for them to cut bait with Shamet.

The Wizards also made a free agent splash when they signed forward, Saddiq Bey to a 3-year $20 million contract which is a great value bargain for a player who has shown that he can be a competent NBA rotation player. The reason why the Wizards were able to get Bey on such a great contract is because he tore his ACL in March of this season and will probably miss the majority if not all of the 2024-25 season. Bey is a career 14 point per game scorer, who shoots 35% on 3-point shots and can defend multiple positions. He’s the perfect role player in the modern NBA and since the Wizards aren’t pressed to be good right away, they can take their time with him on his rehabilitation process. It also didn’t hurt that Bey is a DMV native who attended the Sidwell Friends School, right here in the district. This is a great forward thinking move for the Wizards that could pay huge dividends down the road.

The biggest Wizards free agency news, or lack thereof is surrounding unrestricted free agent point guard Tyus Jones who remains unsigned. Jones is in a very precarious position because the way the NBA free agent market has shaped up this summer, it has seen a heavy top market and now a robust veterans minimum market, leaving the middle market being squeezed out of the type of deals we would normally see in free agency. One of the worst signs for Jones was when Gary Trent Jr signed with the Milwaukee Bucks for the veterans minimum, as Jones and Trent are pretty much in the same class of “elite role players” in today’s NBA. There is almost no market for Jones to get paid a starting point guard salary, which he and his agent were looking for heading into this summer. 

There have been teams that have shown interest in Jones, but not at the salary floor he would like to see. SNY journalist Ian Begley, reported that the Knicks showed interest in Jones at a contract of $10 million over two years, which Jones declined. It seems that the priority for the Jones camp is to get paid as much as possible and it seems to me he only has two options to fulfill that goal. One option is to re-sign with the Wizards at a fair market deal for one or two years and hope to get traded, or he can sign a one year veteran minimum with a contending team and hope to increase his value and re-enter free agency next summer. Neither one of those options seems all that appealing and I honestly feel bad that Jones is being squeezed in the middle of a downturn in the market.