Different Year, Same Wizards
At least Alex Sarr looks good
The Wizards opened their 2025 season with newfound hope. Their young core looked ready to show real growth after a strong preseason. It felt like a corner was about to be turned, but a month into the season the Wizards are off to a slow start.
Standout Performers
A few players have opened the season on a high note. Sophomore Alex Sarr is leading the team with 19.1 PPG, 8.6 RPG and 2.3 BPG, which is a strong start for the 20-year-old. If he can maintain this level of production, both the organization and the fans should be encouraged by his development.
Kyshawn George, coming off a great preseason, has taken a huge jump through his first 11 games. George has nearly doubled his scoring from last season, climbing from 8.7 PPG to 15.8 PPG. I’m a big fan of his game and his upside is obvious. He looks like a player who can flirt with a triple double on any given night and his two way impact is starting to show. So far he is averaging 15.8 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 4.5 APG and 2.0 stocks. He does turn the ball over a lot at 3.2 per game, so that is something he needs to clean up. Still, he is developing nicely and I can’t wait to watch him the rest of the year.
The Many Problems
When you are 1-11, you are going to have a lot of problems. Bilal Coulibaly has only appeared in four games this season because of a left calf injury. He has yet to play a full season or anything close to it, and I am a little worried this year will follow a similar pattern. He is still only 21, so he remains a big part of this rebuild, but he needs to stay on the floor.
Bub Carrington has also been disappointing to start the season. He ranks fourth on the team in minutes per game at 27.4, but his production looks more like someone playing 14 minutes a night. He is averaging 6.5 PPG, 4 RPG and 4.5 APG when I was hoping for more of a Year 2 jump. I understand the value of veteran presence like CJ McCollum, but I wish Bub were putting up numbers closer to McCollum’s. I am being harsh and we are still early in the season, so I will keep watching his minutes and hope we see an improvement.
AJ Johnson looks like a future trade piece and I expected him to come off the bench this season. He is a fun player to watch, but he has appeared in only seven games and is averaging just 5 MPG. The team is not very good but there is a lot of depth ahead of him in the rotation. McCollum, Carrington, Cam Whitmore, Tre Johnson and a couple others are all getting more consistent minutes. We traded for him last season and he averaged 9.1 PPG, but right now he feels like the odd man out. He sits at the very end of the depth chart and it is hard not to think his future is somewhere else.
The Wizards have the third worst offensive rating and the second worst defensive rating at 107.2 and 122.9. These numbers show exactly how poor the team has been on both ends of the floor. There are good individual defenders like Sarr and Coulibaly, but the overall effort has not been enough.
Final Thoughts
The Wizards are off to a rough start despite strong development from players like Alex Sarr and Kyshawn George. This season is clearly another rebuilding year and the team needs to treat it as one. They need Bilal Coulibaly to get healthy and return as soon as possible and Bub Carrington needs to find his rhythm if he is going to continue playing heavy minutes. This roster is still young and there is a lot of development ahead, but it is still tough to watch my favorite team start the season this poorly.
This is Yonatan Daniel from DC Triple Play — until next time.1