Wizards point guard preview: Trae Young starts, but who backs him up?

Several rotational decisions warrant extensive conversations. For the Washington Wizards, starting point guard isn’t one of them.

In June, the Wizards signed Trae Young to a four-year, $212 million contract extension to serve as their starting PG for the 2026-27 season and beyond. He’s the team’s best distributor since Russell Westbrook. And they paid him like it.

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Who backs Young up is the real question.

Will head coach Brian Keefe side with more traditional point guards like Bub Carrington or Tre Mann? Could Kyshawn George or Will Riley play a point-forward role?

Below, we examine the point guard position, with statistics and analysis of each option Keefe must weigh as training camp approaches.

The starter

As mentioned above, Young is the clear choice here. And for good reason.

The 28-year-old is a four-time NBA All-Star who’s just one season removed from averaging a league-best 11.6 assists per game. His career 9.8 assists per game ranks third all-time behind John Stockton (10.5) and Magic Johnson (11.2). That’s pretty good company.

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An MCL sprain, a quad contusion and back irritation held Young to just five games after a January trade sent him to Washington for Corey Kispert and CJ McCollum. He averaged 15.2 points and 6.2 assists while shooting 59.5% from the field and 42.9% from 3-point range.

The Wizards’ 109.7 offensive rating ranked 29th last season. In just five games with Young, that figure rose to 114.3, tied for 16th best in the league.

Players like Bilal Coulibaly, a career 31% 3-point shooter, saw a spike in their efficiency thanks to the gravity and court vision Young brings. Coulibaly shot 41.4% (12-29) from 3-point range during that stretch.

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Washington’s offense will run through Young, whose on-ball percentage peaked at 51.9% in 2021 and hadn’t dipped below 45% until last season. Furthermore, Young had a stretch from 2020-2025 in which he created more than 47 points per game, a figure that each year ranked in the 96th percentile or better among guards.

While the 6-foot-2 guard possesses elite PG tools, his defense was a primary reason Atlanta shopped him to the…

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Publish date : 2026-09-22 13:55:00

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