The Wizards have plenty of mouths to feed, and Alex Sarr is right in the middle of that conversation.
Washington came into the 2026-27 season with a rotation full of double-digit scorers, but the early offense has not settled the way the team hoped. The talent is there.
The balance has been harder to find. And for a young roster with a crowded hierarchy, that means some players are being pushed into narrower roles while coaches keep searching for the right mix.
Sarr is one of the clearest examples of that adjustment. The seven-footer returned to the starting lineup without much suspense, but his usage looks different now than it did when he was emerging as the Wizards’ premier pre-Dybantsa prospect. Instead of living on the ball and flashing all over the floor, he’s spending more time in the corners and leaning into a more selective offensive role next to Anthony Davis.
“Definitely still trying to do both,” he told On SI in regards to balancing the arc-lingering and the post-touches. “My jumper allows our offense to be spread out, so just me picking the moments where I’m cutting or spacing to the corners, just trying to be efficient at those.”
That’s the tradeoff for a player whose appeal has always come from a little bit of everything. Sarr’s two-way upside helped win over the Wizards as the second pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, and his ability to defend, finish at the rim and make plays was part of the early excitement around his game. He also showed enough growth after a streaky rookie year to earn his place back in the opening five.
But this version of the Wizards asks something different from him. He’s one of three center options in the pick-and-roll mix with Davis and Deandre Ayton, and he’s the least physically imposing of the group. On top of that, his outside shot has not been falling at a high rate, with Sarr hitting 22.2% from deep while carrying a usage rate lower than all four other starters and reserve scorer Tre Johnson.
Still, there are signs of how he can help. His comfort as a spot-up option has kept his passing touch visible, and Sarr pointed to the variety around him as part of the team’s growing chemistry.
“We got guys who can make decisions at all positions,” he said. “Whether it’s me in the short roll, Trae, Kyshawn, AJ handling the ball, getting past their guy, we got a lot of different looks out there.
That’s when the chemistry comes in of all of us being on the same page. You can see people getting more and more comfortable as the games have gone on.”
There’s also the version of Sarr who can work as the lone big, and Washington has seen that in short bursts. He’s logged 36 minutes in that look over seven games, and while the defense has held up with a 105.1 defensive rating in those stretches, he still isn’t functioning as a brute-force post scorer. Even so, he has been efficient inside the arc, making 21 of 30 two-point attempts through a mix of tip-ins and transition finishes.
Head coach Brian Keefe said the process has been slower for Sarr than for some of his teammates because he missed the same summer ramp-up.
“I think he’s been adjusted to [the offense] well. Obviously, he’s still getting his legs underneath him, like he didn’t get the chance to train like the rest of the team this summer.”
Keefe also pointed to the ways Sarr fits alongside Davis as the offense continues to take shape.
“The offensive stuff is growing, and that’s with our whole team. We’re still trying to figure out the identity of how we’re gonna play with our team.
I thought that would take some time... What you can feel with Alex, his playmaking ability, you can see the combination he’s already built with AD, playing the high-low game, playing big-to-big, or when he’s in the short pocket, Alex can always find shooters and kick it out.
I’ve been happy with his progress.”
The fit isn’t perfect, and Sarr isn’t solving every issue. He’s not the offensive rebounding force Washington has wanted since Justin Champagnie fractured his foot, and he’s not stretching defenses with volume threes. But the Wizards are 4-4, the offense is still sorting itself out, and Sarr has given them something useful anyway: a different kind of big, one who can still make the game easier for the people around him.
He has scored 10 or more points four times in his last five games, and he grabbed eight rebounds in both of this week’s contests. That doesn’t fix everything, but it does give Washington another piece to work with as the rest of the roster keeps sorting out its roles.
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