Must-watch Wizards? Trae Young, Anthony Davis, AJ Dybantsa and the NBA’s weirdest group project

The Wizards spent the past few years trying to lose. Now they’re trying to win and develop players at the same time. Half the roster is young, the other half is old. But all of them are trying to figure out who they are. Washington is running a two-timeline experiment that features veterans Trae Young, Anthony Davis, Khris Middleton and Deandre Ayton. That group could accelerate or get in the way of the development of Washington’s interesting young core. This is the NBA’s weirdest group project.

The Wizards have a bunch of prospects who were drafted over the three seasons in which the franchise combined for only 50 wins: AJ Dybantsa, Tre Johnson, Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Will Riley and Bub Carrington. There’s a lot of talent here. There are also a lot of mouths to feed. And nobody matters more to making it work than Young, who was acquired in January from the Atlanta Hawks, played in only five games to aid Washington’s tank, and then was rewarded with a four-year, $212 million extension.

Advertisement

NBA Power Rankings: How all 30 teams stack up for 2026-27

Young has spent his entire career as the center of an offense, pounding the ball in pick-and-roll and creating shots for everyone on the floor. As a four-time All-Star, what he’s done has led to great individual success, and he even led Atlanta to the Eastern Conference finals in 2021. But that run proved to be the peak. The Hawks never won another playoff series with Young, cycled through coaches and supporting casts, and ultimately decided to pull the plug.

Washington can’t afford for this to become The Trae Young Show. Even if the Young-Davis pick-and-roll becomes one of Washington’s most reliable weapons, the offense still needs to leave room for all of the young players to experiment, make mistakes and expand their games. The Wizards need to learn what they can become, which makes Young’s willingness to evolve the biggest question hanging over this roster.

(Dillon Minshall/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

Can Trae learn to play without the ball?

Sometimes the greatest contribution a player can make is the gravity he creates by sprinting hard through a screen,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/must-watch-wizards-trae-young-anthony-davis-aj-dybantsa-and-the-nbas-weirdest-group-project-133818736.html

Author : Kevin O'Connor

Publish date : 2026-09-22 13:38:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.