It appears unlikely that Trae Young will return to the court this season.
The Wizards announced on Saturday that Young reinjured his right quadriceps, sustaining a contusion during the third quarter of their game against Golden State on Monday. Related imaging, due to ongoing back pain, confirmed lower back irritation, Josh Robbins of The Athletic relays (Twitter link).
Both injuries are being treated conservatively and will not require surgery at this time, the Wizards added.
It’s essentially been a lost season for the former All-Star. He only appeared in 10 games with the Hawks this season before the blockbuster trade with Washington in early January.
Young was a four-time All-Star with the Hawks, including last season when he was the NBA’s assists leader with 11.6 per game. However, he made limited appearances prior to the trade due to a sprained MCL in late October and the right quad contusion.
He has only played five games with the Wizards over the past two-plus months, averaging 15.2 points and 6.2 assists in 20.8 minutes per game.
Young holds a $49MM player option on his contract for next season. If Young were to sign an extension with the Wizards in the coming months, it would require him to turn down his option and replace it with a new deal starting in ’26/27. An agreement between the two sides could tack on a maximum of three years to the current season.
If Young picks up his option in June, he would be eligible during the offseason to sign an extension that begins in ’27/28 and adds up to four new seasons to his option year. If he were to turn down his option in favor of free agency, he could explore options outside of D.C., though the expectation at this time is that he’ll stick with the Wizards beyond this season.
Man being on the wizards must be what hurts the most. Unless you’re wired differently like AD
I wouldn’t trust his health if he keeps reaggravating injuries while on a minutes restriction. With Trae and AD made of glass, the Wizards won’t be much better next season. If I’m the Wizards, I would be unwilling to commit a bunch of money to them.
In Trae’s it’s called taking most the season off to get healthy since the Wizards are tanking anyway.
I don’t believe that Trae has really been injured as much as the Wizards claim, but if he really has been injured, it’s concerning. The Wizards have lost with and without Trae so it makes no difference for this season.
They’re being super careful with him, if he has even the slightest soreness or weakness they’ll give him a week off. I don’t like either trade, though. AD left basically every game he played in Dallas with some sort of an injury, and I don’t think that’s going to get any better.
He just coming back too early.
He’s dealing with overrated as well.
Overrated? Really? I mean if he were overrated it’d seems the Hawks could’ve at least got a 1st rd pick.
Waste of money and time for these 2 damaged goods. If i was the gm i would have gotten 2 all stars next season when the young guns are
Quite ready and not to sign damaged goods all stars.
This team has so much money tied up in the often injured and over rated… It will be hard for them to do anything but ride out their contracts and pick up cheap young talent…
Im not surprised at all. Getting all these damaged goods.