Alex Sarr finally got the kind of night Washington should have been building toward all along.
The former No. 2 overall pick erupted for 30 points and nine rebounds Thursday night, but the Wizards still came up short in a wild 144-140 loss to the 8-3 Detroit Pistons. It counts as another defeat in the standings, dropping Washington to 4-9 and extending its losing streak to six, but Sarr’s performance stood out as a much-needed bright spot for a team still trying to find its footing.
Afterward, Sarr talked about what he wants to take from the game moving forward.
“I think I’m always confident shooting the ball. We can build off a game like that just for the whole team, our effort, our energy. We had it down the stretch, and we let it go, so there’s a lot to learn from that.”
That last part matters, because the Wizards’ biggest takeaway from this one should be obvious: get Sarr the ball.
For much of the season, he has been treated like an afterthought offensively. Washington is trying to sort through a roster packed with new pieces while chasing a postseason berth for the first time in five years, so some adjustment was always going to be part of the process. But Sarr’s role has shrunk more than expected.
Entering the Pistons game, he ranked sixth on the team in shot attempts, sitting behind the other four starters, Trae Young, Kyshawn George, AJ Dybantsa, and Anthony Davis, along with Tre Johnson. Sarr is coming back from June surgery to repair his right foot, but that doesn’t explain everything.
Brian Keefe and his staff have still been giving him major minutes, and he remains in the starting five. The question is why it took this long for his touches to start looking the way they should.
The bigger issue is that Washington has been asking a 21-year-old franchise big to operate on a career-low number of attempts from the floor and at the free throw line. That’s not how you maximize a player like Sarr, especially with Trae Young now in the mix as a playmaking guard who should make life easier for him.
There’s a clear blueprint here. Young has already shown he can lift big men in Atlanta, helping Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu play at a higher level. Sarr may be more talented than either of them, and if Washington uses him that way, Thursday can be more than just a huge individual game in a loss.
It can be the start of something.
In Other News...
Wizards Fans Had To Love AJ Dybantsas Response To Scary Hit
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Dybantsa finished with five points, eight rebounds and four assists as the Wizards pushed the Pistons deep into extra time before Detroit finally pulled away. Cunninghams huge night powered the Pistons, but Washington had to appreciate the way Dybantsa handled the hit and kept playing through it, a tough-minded sequence that fit the tone of a game that never really let up. [Read more 🡒]
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Brian Keefe has already trimmed Aytons minutes, and the next step could be even more significant if Washington decides it needs a different look in the middle. The Wizards are trying to squeeze more value out of their center minutes as they search for answers, and Aytons place in that equation is far from settled. What happens next will say a lot about how quickly this team is willing to pivot while the losses keep piling up. [Read more 🡒]
Wizards May Need To Make A Tough Call On Bilal Coulibaly
Bilal Coulibalys second season has become one of the more uncomfortable questions on the Wizards roster. The young wing has not made the offensive leap the team hoped for after drafting him, and his shooting has been rough enough that Washington is at least having to weigh whether his long-term fit is as clear as it once looked.
That kind of conversation is never easy this early in a rebuild, especially with a player still viewed as part of the future on the defensive end. But if the Wizards decide his limitations on offense outweigh the upside they still see, they may have to explore the market before the deadline and see whether another team is willing to bet on his tools and development path. [Read more 🡒]