Trae Young‘s Wizards debut won’t happen anytime soon, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports that the point guard won’t be reevaluated until after the All-Star break as he recovers from right MCL and quad injuries. Based on that timeline, Young will miss at least the next 15 games.
Young sprained his right MCL in late October and missed 22 consecutive games before returning in mid-December. After playing in five of Atlanta’s next six contests, he sustained a right quad contusion that kept him out of action for his final six games as a Hawk.
When the Wizards acquired Young last week, multiple reports indicated that he’d likely see limited playing time during the second half of the season, with Washington focused on hanging onto its top-eight protected 2026 first-round pick and prioritizing the newcomer’s impact in 2026/27 (and potentially beyond).
Still, the NBA figures to keep an eye on the situation, since Young technically already returned from his MCL sprain, and a contusion typically isn’t the type of injury that requires a long-term absence.
While it makes sense that a lottery-bound team (like Washington) would take a more cautious approach with a banged-up player than a team battling for a playoff spot (ie. Atlanta), Young qualifies as a star player based on the NBA’s player participation policy, which prohibits teams from shutting down a healthy “star” for an extended period. So if the league suspects the Wizards are bending those rules, it could instigate an investigation. For now, there has been no indication that will happen.
What a bad trade for the Washington
No man. You’re looking at it wrong. They’re holding him out so they can secure their bottom three position and then he’ll play. Once he plays, he’ll win games for the team and they can’t have that because they’re trying to tink to the bottom, bring a top pick in and then have him next year along with all their nice young pieces. Their future actually looks pretty good
“Once he plays, he’ll win games for the team”
He didn’t do this in Atlanta so why would he in Washington? Hawks were 2-8 with Trae this year and 18-14 without him.
That’s the popular narrative, but Trae can make a difference for Wiz that CJ didn’t. And I like CJ in ATL, that’s a good pickup for them. IMO a win-win.
To be honest, Trey is better than CJ. Trey averages over 10 assist a game and can draw double teams I believe his time in Atlanta was just over and that he needed the right team to build around him and once they got the first overall pick they no longer needed to do that and kind of went with a different role and outcome for the team. I believe the place where he’ll help with his passing is Alex Starr and all the rest of his young players, but he’s also going to have to realize that he can’t just s*** whenever he wants and that will be the big question
In order for Trae to really help a team win he has to stay healthy which is something he can no longer do this far into his career