The Washington Wizards head into North Carolina with momentum and a matchup that looks very manageable on paper. After grinding out a road win over the Chicago Bulls this past weekend, Washington is sitting at 2-1 and now gets the first of two games against the Charlotte Hornets over the next few days.
That record fits the early picture for a roster still sorting itself out around a batch of recently acquired All-Stars and rising young pieces. It hasn’t always been clean, but the Wizards have found enough depth to survive, and the second-half push in Chicago was the latest example.
Charlotte arrives with a similarly uneven start, though the Hornets have already managed two wins despite early injuries. They beat the Brooklyn Nets and the Miami Heat, with their only loss coming in a 47-point defeat to the Atlanta Hawks. The Hornets are still leaning heavily on 3-point volume, even if this version of the roster looks different from the one Washington has seen so often in recent seasons.
LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges, both of whom were part of last year’s Play-In Tournament team, are no longer in Charlotte after being dealt to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Phoenix Suns, respectively. Until Kon Knueppel returns, Brandon Miller is the central figure for the Hornets’ future, even if his 21.3% field goal percentage says plenty about the early results.
Knueppel is now expected to join fellow rotational regulars Coby White and Grant Williams on the Hornets’ bench, and that same setup has already forced Washington to wait on one of its own young names. AJ Dybantsa still hasn’t made his NBA debut after rolling his ankle in the Wizards’ preseason finale, leaving another absence in place for this trip.
Even without Dybantsa, Washington got a useful step forward from Alex Sarr in Chicago. After two quiet games to begin the season, he finally flashed some scoring punch, finishing with a season-high 10 points and matching the five field goals he had totaled across the first two games.
That kind of line matters because the Wizards are still figuring out where Sarr fits in their double-big looks. Too often, he’s been parked in the corner as a theoretical spacer, even though that isn’t really his game right now. He can make a 3-pointer here and there, but he’s not a perimeter-first weapon.
What has stood out is his feel for the game. Sarr has scored off movement, cuts and quick reads, not just off simple dump-offs or basic transition chances.
He’s shown timing as a cutter when Anthony Davis has the ball in the high post, and his length lets him get to open space quickly before smaller defenders can recover. He’s also been feeding Davis, delivering an alley-oop slam to his frontcourt teammate at least once in every game so far.
That gives head coach Brian Keefe more to juggle. Sarr’s ability to punish smaller defenders in space makes him another real scoring threat to account for, and against a Charlotte front line that doesn’t have much size beyond Moussa Diabete, the Wizards should have opportunities with Sarr, Davis and Deandre Ayton inside.
The other major reason Washington should feel good about this spot is the play of Trae Young. He drew plenty of skepticism over the summer when it came to his extension, but on the floor he has quieted a lot of that noise by making the game easier for his finishers and other creators.
Young turned in his best scoring game yet as a Wizard in Chicago, finishing with 25 points on 6-for-13 shooting. He also hit four 3-pointers for the second game in a row. That kind of efficiency will matter for Washington, even if he still needs more than three attempts inside the arc to keep defenses honest as both a scorer and a playmaker off screens.
Charlotte’s defense shouldn’t make life as difficult as Toronto did for Washington last week. The Hornets don’t have the same stock of perimeter or wing stoppers, which opens the door for another productive night from Young. Expect a lot of Sion James activity in this one, along with plenty of bench shots of Dybantsa and Knueppel as the Wizards wait for the matchups they still can’t get just yet.
In Other News...
Bulls Loss Got Even More Frustrating After Caleb Wilson Confirmation
The Bulls loss took on an extra layer of frustration once the league confirmed what Chicago had already been arguing about the closing sequence. In the final moments of the game, Caleb Wilson had the kind of look that can swing everything late, and the missed whistle on the play only deepened the sting around a night that already featured problems earlier in the third quarter.
For Washington fans following the wider conference picture, it was another reminder of how thin the margins can be when a game is hanging in the balance. The missed call did not erase the Bulls uneven middle stretch, but it did leave one more hard-to-accept moment attached to a loss that will sit with Chicago for a while. [Read more 🡒]
Deandre Ayton Is Giving The Wizards A Frontcourt Decision
Deandre Aytons arrival has added an interesting wrinkle to Washingtons frontcourt early in the season. After coming over from the Lakers, he has settled into a bench role without any visible friction, giving the Wizards a veteran big who can stabilize second-unit minutes while trying to rebuild value on his next contract. Through his first few games, he has provided modest production and, just as important for a young roster, a professional approach to a role that looks very different from the one he has usually occupied.
The bigger question for Washington is how much that buy-in changes the shape of the rotation as the season settles in. Ayton has been praised for embracing the assignment and helping the teams early-season performance, which puts the Wizards in an intriguing spot if he keeps giving them quality minutes off the bench. For now, the front office has a useful problem on its hands: a former top-tier starter willing to work as a reserve, and a frontcourt setup that may need to be revisited if his play keeps trending in the right direction. [Read more 🡒]
Tre Mann Already Faces A Tough Reality With The Wizards
Tre Manns first weeks in Washington have come with a pretty clear reminder of how crowded backcourt life can get in the NBA. The Wizards have added major names around the roster, and the guard rotation has already shifted toward younger pieces as the team sorts out its future. For a player brought in to help stabilize the back end of the rotation, the path to meaningful minutes has been anything but straightforward.
Mann has barely had a chance to settle in, and the minutes on the second unit have been going elsewhere for now. Tre Johnson and Bub Carrington are handling much of the bench guard work, leaving Mann in an uncertain spot as the Wizards continue to figure out who fits where. For a team in transition, every small role battle matters, and this one already looks like it could take a while to resolve. [Read more 🡒]