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Wizards Notes: George, Bench, Johnson, Rebuild

October 25th, 2025 at 11:56am CST by Dana Gauruder

Wizards second-year forward Kyshawn George had a breakout game on Friday, racking up a career-best 34 points on 11-of-15 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds, four assists, two steals and three blocks in a win over Dallas. George is aiming to make performances like that the norm.

“You get to create what the Wizards are going to be for the future, and I think there’s no better space to be as a player than that,” George told Varun Shankar of the Washington Post. “I’m just looking forward to stacking those days to just get better.”

CJ McCollum believes George can develop into that type of player.

“He’s the total package,” McCollum told The Athletic’s Josh Robbins. “He’s got it all. A three-level scorer. Obviously, you see the handle, you see the defensive pressure.”

We have more on the Wizards:

  • The bench contributed 47 points, 19 rebounds and eight assists, led by rookie Tre Johnson‘s 17 points. “Our bench came in and really changed the game,” coach Brian Keefe said, per Robbins. “We ended up playing 11 guys, and everybody had a contribution to that. We were able to establish the physicality against a pretty veteran, big team from the get-go. Even though we didn’t make shots at the beginning, we stuck with the game plan and trusted what we were doing.”
  • Speaking of Johnson, the knock on him coming out of Texas was his defense. He believes he can become an asset on that end of the floor, he told Mark Medina of EssentiallySports.com. “People who have seen me play know that I can defend,” Johnson said. “I’ve never really been the one to get picked out too much. So it’s really about being solid on defense. Maybe I’ll try to be more active in steals. That’s the only place where defense shows on the stat sheet.”
  • According to Robbins, it’s key during the rebuild that the Wizards soon unearth a future All-NBA player on the roster. This season should be about finding that guy, whether he’s already on the roster or whether he’s going to be in the 2026 draft. Overall, Washington must stick to its plan this season, even as the losses pile up again, says Robbins.
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Wizards Notes: Sarr, Vukcevic, McCollum, Watkins

October 11th, 2025 at 2:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Five talent evaluators from around the NBA spoke to Josh Robbins of The Athletic about what to expect from Wizards big man Alex Sarr and none of those sources expect the former No. 2 overall pick to develop into the best or second-best player on a contender, according to Robbins.

One scout questioned whether Sarr will become a reliable enough outside shooter to qualify as a stretch big man, while another suggested the seven-footer will have to bulk up and become more imposing physically in order to maximize his potential as a rim protector. “He weighs less than some of the bigger wings and forwards that are starting in the NBA,” that scout said.

Still, multiple sources who talked to Robbins are optimistic about Sarr’s ability to build on what he showed during his rookie season and to continue making strides toward becoming a reliable starting center.

“I would be surprised if he doesn’t take a big leap this year, and that big leap will be being effective on the floor and trying to impact the team outcome as opposed to impacting his individual outcome,” one evaluator told Robbins. “There’s still a lot (of untapped potential) as to what he could be. It was probably a slower start than maybe the general fan would hope for. But I think by the end of (last) season, he had been put in a position to succeed, and we’re going to see more of that built on this season. We’re going to see it start to pay dividends this season.”

Here’s more on Sarr and the Wizards:

  • Sarr, who sustained a left calf injury during the EuroBasket tournament, told reporters on Saturday that he expects to be available to play in Washington’ preseason opener on Sunday after spending the past week ramping up, tweets Robbins. The Wizards will be taking on the Raptors, who have Alex’s brother Olivier Sarr on their roster on an Exhibit 10 deal. It will be the first time the brothers play one another in an organized game, according to the Wizards center (Twitter video link via Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports Network).
  • Representing Serbia at EuroBasket, Wizards big man Tristan Vukcevic got the chance to team up with three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. As Hughes writes for Monumental Sports Network, Vukcevic said he was inspired by how hard the Nuggets star practices and paid close attention to specific aspects of Jokic’s game that he hopes to emulate. “Just seeing him in the short roll and how he reads – is he going to finish or pass to the corner – with those reads it helped me a lot being with him,” Vukcevic said. “Hopefully I can translate.”
  • In a conversation with Hughes, Wizards guard CJ McCollum shared his early impressions on Wizards rookies Tre Johnson, Will Riley, and Jamir Watkins. While he shared positive feedback on all three players, McCollum notably spoke at length about Watkins, describing the second-round pick as a potential “lock-down” defender capable of guarding positions one through five. “He asks questions about defense. He was in the cold tub yesterday asking me about Herb Jones and what makes him such a good defender,” McCollum said. “He was asking me how he got to that point. I was telling him that he cares. He watches film, he makes the extra effort, and the body type matches. He’s got a good body – 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6 with long arms, quick enough to guard ones, strong enough to guard threes and fours. He can probably switch onto some fives and then it’s 3-and-D. The league loves that.”
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Wizards Notes: McCollum, Carrington, Whitmore, Kispert

October 1st, 2025 at 5:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

CJ McCollum found a unique way to express the age difference between himself and his new Wizards teammates, writes Bijan Todd of Monumental Sports Network. The 34-year-old guard, who runs a successful winery, noted that many of them aren’t old enough to legally partake of his product.

The list includes second-year players Bub Carrington and AJ Johnson, who are both 20, along with this year’s first-round picks, Tre Johnson and Will Riley, who are 19. McCollum was acquired from New Orleans this summer to serve as a mentor to the young talent, and he said the process started early.

“The guys are asking questions. Obviously they’re able to see how I work and how I got to where I’m at within this league in terms of the respect I have, but also I how I play,” McCollum told reporters at media day. “I think they’ll learn a lot from me just by osmosis, by being around, but also me being able to help out and explain why I do things the way I do, why I prepare the way I do, why I get in at the times that I do.”

McCollum identified Carrington as being especially inquisitive and complimented him for “asking the right questions.” Carrington is expected to be the team’s starting point guard this season, and McCollum has many years of experience in that role.

“It’s super exciting. It’s crazy that I’m even on the same team as him because CJ McCollum was someone that my whole life I’ve been compared to, and my whole life I’ve actually looked up to,” Carrington said. “And I’ve actually kind of had a cheat sheet on CJ McCollum because he went to Lehigh and my brother went to Lehigh as well, so I already knew of him and watched him even when he was in college. … He’s here until 3 p.m., I’m here until 3 p.m. talking to him. I think he loves it though. I’m starting to realize he likes to talk too. It’s kind of helping both of us, I guess.”

There’s more from Washington:

  • General manager Will Dawkins was fond enough of Cam Whitmore heading into the 2023 draft that he asked the D.C. native if he would be comfortable playing for his hometown team, per Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports Network. Whitmore will finally get that chance after being acquired from Rockets following two years of inconsistent playing time. “He obviously didn’t get as much of an opportunity in Houston for whatever reason, but he understands that he’s going to have opportunity here but it’s gotta be earned,” Dawkins said. “I don’t know when that’s going to come, but he’s excited. He’s a powerful, explosive, dynamic athlete who can compete on both ends. We’ve gotta get him to be consistent.”
  • Corey Kispert underwent thumb surgery in March, but he said at media day that it didn’t affect his offseason workouts, tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic.
  • Varun Shankar of The Washington Post (subscription required) previews the training camp battles for playing time, especially on the wing, where there will be an opportunity while Bilal Coulibaly recovers from thumb ligament surgery.
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International Notes: KD, Boston, Cousins, NBA, UK

September 19th, 2025 at 3:55pm CST by Rory Maher

New Rockets forward Kevin Durant became the first men’s basketball player to win four Olympic gold medals last year in Paris. Earlier this week, Durant was asked about the possibility of suiting up for Team USA at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, as Law Murray of The Athletic relays (Twitter video link).

“Yeah, if I’m still me,” Durant said. “I don’t want the gift of the veteran, like, ‘come sit on the end of the bench and get your fifth (gold medal).'”

The 15-time All-Star also said he’s given some thought to becoming a coach after his playing days are over.

“Some days I would (like to coach), some days I wouldn’t,” Durant said. “It’s tough dealing with personalities. … But we’ll see.”

Here are a few more international items of interest:

  • In an interview with Bilal Baran Yardımcı of Eurohoops, four-year NBA veteran Brandon Boston Jr. said talking to former teammate CJ McCollum and McCollum’s older brother, new teammate Errick McCollum, helped convince him to sign with Fenerbahce this offseason. The Turkish team is the reigning EuroLeague champion. “Just having those conversations with those guys really helped me a lot with my decision,” Boston said.
  • Former NBA center DeMarcus Cousins is returning to Mongolia for the 2025/26 season, having re-signed with the Selenge Bodons, he announced on social media (Facebook link; hat tip to HoopsHype). “I’m excited to announce that I will be returning to the Bodons! Can’t wait to get back to Mongolia and finish what we started and try to bring home a championship!” Cousins wrote. The four-time All-Star, whose last NBA stint came with Denver during the 2021/22 campaign, has played overseas for several teams during the past few years.
  • The NBA and the UK government are investing £5MM apiece to elevate one of the UK’s “fastest-growing sports,” according to Basketball England (hat tip to BasketNews). “Basketball is booming in Britain – and this investment will help take it to the next level, opening up the game to thousands more people right across the country,” UK prime minister Keir Starmer said as part of a larger statement. The NBA is hosting regular season games in London in 2026 and in Manchester in 2027 and is working to create a league in Europe that could launch as early as 2027 and may feature teams in both of those cities.
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Southeast Notes: D. Smith, Heat, Wizards, Djurisic

July 29th, 2025 at 12:46pm CST by Luke Adams

While Dru Smith had been considered the favorite to claim the Heat‘s final two-way slot, that can’t actually happen, notes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald, since a CBA rule prohibits a player from being on a two-way contract with the same team for four seasons.

Smith hasn’t spent the entirety of the past three years on two-way deals with Miami, but he has been on a two-way contract for at least part of each of the past three seasons since 2022/23, making him ineligible to do so again in ’25/26.

The Heat did tender Smith a qualifying offer in June, but that offer is for a one-year, minimum-salary contract with a small partial guarantee (approximately $102K), rather than another two-way deal. Miami has just 14 players on standard contracts for now, so Smith could be the club’s 15th man, but team salary is already over the luxury tax threshold, so it’s unclear whether or not the front office plans to carry a full 15-man roster into the regular season.

Meanwhile, there’s still a two-way spot open on the Heat’s roster alongside Vladislav Goldin and Myron Gardner.

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

  • It hasn’t been an especially eventful offseason for the Heat — they’ve made modest additions like Norman Powell, Kasparas Jakucionis, and Simone Fontecchio, but will bring back a roster pretty similar to last year’s group. With that in mind, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel suggests that internal improvement represents Miami’s best hope of taking a step forward and identifies Andrew Wiggins, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Terry Rozier, and Nikola Jovic as a few of the top candidates to give the team more in 2025/26 than they did in ’24/25.
  • Khris Middleton and CJ McCollum are the only two players on the Wizards‘ roster who are older than 26 or earning more than $14MM in 2025/26, according to Varun Shankar of The Washington Post, who says the front office views the two veterans as positive influences and potential role models for the team’s younger players. Acquiring Middleton and McCollum also put Washington in position to create significant 2026 cap room, since both players are on expiring deals.
  • Nikola Djurisic, a 2024 second-round pick who signed his first NBA contract earlier this month with the Hawks, was left off Serbia’s roster for the upcoming EuroBasket tournament. As Kevin Chouinard of Hawks.com relays (via Twitter), Serbian head coach Svetislav Pesic referred to the 21-year-old forward as part of “the future of Serbian basketball” in explaining that decision. “There was a thought to include him (on the roster) as well, but we have a lot of experienced players in that position,” Pesic said. “Let him take a break from everything now. He spent a whole year in America.”
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Fred VanVleet Elected New NBPA President

July 12th, 2025 at 7:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

7:00 pm: According to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link), the other members of the Executive Committee are as follows:

6:01 pm: The National Basketball Players Association has elected Rockets guard Fred VanVleet as its new president, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). VanVleet will replace CJ McCollum and will serve a four-year term.

VanVleet, 31, has earned tremendous respect from his peers during his nine-year NBA career. He was one of the veteran players Ime Udoka brought in to help change the culture when he took over as head coach in Houston two years ago.

VanVleet was a beloved figure in Toronto before switching teams and played a vital role in bringing the city its only NBA title in 2019. He recently signed a two-year, $50MM deal to remain in Houston, and Charania notes that he has set several records for being the highest-paid undrafted player in league history (Twitter link).

With the expiration of his four-year term, McCollum will take on an advisory position with union, Charania adds. His time in office included a landmark Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2023 that introduced the two-apron system and ensures labor peace through the 2029/30 season.

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Wizards, Pelicans, Rockets Compete Three-Team Trade

July 6th, 2025 at 1:57pm CST by Luke Adams

As expected, the Wizards have rolled a pair of trade agreements with the Pelicans and Rockets into the same deal, officially completing the two deals as a single three-team transaction, per a press release from New Orleans.

The terms of the trade are as follows:

The original trade agreement between Washington and New Orleans was reached on June 24, a day before the first round of the draft, with the Whitmore deal between Houston and Washington just agreed upon yesterday.

It was beneficial for the Wizards to combine the two deals into a single trade because they were sending out any matching salary to the Rockets for Whitmore. While they could have used one of several cap exceptions they had on hand to take on Whitmore’s $3.54MM salary for 2025/26, including him in this deal allows them to use their 125% allowance for Poole’s and Bey’s outgoing salary to acquire him, McCollum, and Olynyk.

The only new part of this deal is the Rockets acquiring the draft rights to King from New Orleans, which was necessary to ensure that Houston and New Orleans were “touching” as part of the three-team deal.

You can read our original story on the Wizards/Pelicans deal headlined by McCollum and Poole here, while our report on the Wizards’ deal for Whitmore is here.

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Wizards Notes: Whitmore, Gill, Centers, Outlaw

July 5th, 2025 at 7:16pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Wizards‘ acquisition of Cam Whitmore from the Rockets will be folded into a four-player trade with the Pelicans that was reported last month, a source tells Varun Shankar of The Washington Post (subscriber link). That deal sends Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey and the 40th pick in this year’s draft (Micah Peavy) to New Orleans in exchange for CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk and a future second-round selection.

Combining the two trades into one will allow the Wizards to acquire Whitmore without using a separate trade exception or a portion of their mid-level or bi-annual exception.

Houston is trading Whitmore to a rebuilding team to give him a shot at increased playing time, but Shankar points out that it might be just as difficult for Whitmore to get on the court in Washington as it was during his two seasons with the Rockets. He views Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George and lottery pick Tre Johnson as locks to be in the rotation.

Whitmore will have to compete with young prospects Will Riley, AJ Johnson, Justin Champagnie and Dillon Jones, along with McCollum and fellow veterans Khris Middleton, Marcus Smart, Corey Kispert and Richaun Holmes.

Shankar also points out that Whitmore and Coulibaly were part of the same draft class in 2023, which means they’ll both be eligible for rookie scale extensions next summer.

There’s more from Washington:

  • The Wizards waived Anthony Gill last weekend to avoid paying his $2.5MM salary for the upcoming season, but he’s likely to be brought back as the team’s 15th man, Josh Robbins of The Athletic states in a mailbag column. A new deal will be a win for both sides, Robbins explains, as the 32-year-old forward will earn about $121K more on a veteran’s minimum contract and the league’s reimbursement policy will cause Gill to have a smaller salary cap hit. Washington has a minor roster crunch as a result of its moves so far, so the team would have to make additional trades or cuts to make room on the regular season roster for Gill.
  • The Wizards aren’t likely to pursue another center to join Sarr, Olynyk and Holmes, Robbins states in the same piece. Even though Washington ranked near the bottom of the league in defensive rebounding percentage, Robbins notes that there’s not a strong incentive to win this season because the team’s first-round draft pick will convey to New York if it falls out of the top eight. Robbins adds that the Wizards didn’t try to sign any big men when free agency began, and he doesn’t expect that stance to change unless Olynyk or Holmes gets traded.
  • Assistant J.J. Outlaw will serve as the Wizards’ Summer League coach, team sources tell Robbins (Twitter link). Outlaw joined Brian Keefe’s coaching staff last July after five seasons in Cleveland.
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Pelicans Trading McCollum, Olynyk To Wizards For Poole, Bey

June 24th, 2025 at 2:15pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans and Wizards have agreed to a four-player trade, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that guard CJ McCollum, forward/center Kelly Olynyk, and a future second-round pick are headed to Washington in exchange for guard Jordan Poole, forward Saddiq Bey, and the No. 40 overall pick in this year’s draft.

Both McCollum ($30.7MM) and Olynyk ($13.4MM) will be on expiring contracts in 2025/26, so this move will significantly increase the Wizards’ projected 2026 cap room. They were already going to have a lot of money coming off their books next summer, with Khris Middleton ($33.3MM), Marcus Smart ($21.6MM), and potentially Richaun Holmes ($13.3MM; mostly non-guaranteed) also on expiring deals.

Corey Kispert‘s $14MM is now the only fully guaranteed salary on Washington’s cap for 2026/27, though a handful of players on rookie scale contracts will join him once the Wizards officially pick up their ’26/27 options later this year. The team currently projects to have more than $80MM in cap room next summer, per Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Twitter link), and possibly up to $100MM, according to Charania.

In addition to generating future cap flexibility, the Wizards will add a pair of respected veterans who are still playing pretty good basketball.

While McCollum is an undersized shooting guard who isn’t a great defender, he put up 21.1 points and 4.1 assists per game this past season on .444/.373/.717 shooting in 56 contests (all starts). Olynyk, who was traded from Toronto to New Orleans in February, battled injuries that limited him to 44 appearances, but posted respectable averages of 8.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 2.9 APG in 20.3 MPG and made 41.8% of his three-point tries.

Although neither player has substantial trade value, both should be movable later this offseason or during the season if the Wizards aren’t committed to keeping them for the entire 2025/26 campaign.

According to Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link), the second-round pick going to Washington in the deal is Chicago’s 2027 second-rounder. The Wizards were actually already going to receive that pick if it were to land in the top 50, but now they’ll get it no matter where it ends up, rather than the Pelicans receiving it if it’s between 51 and 60.

As for the Pelicans, they’re sacrificing some 2026 cap flexibility in the trade, but will move a little further below next season’s luxury tax line and get younger by acquiring Poole and Bey.

Poole, who turned 26 last Thursday, had a strong bounce-back year in D.C. in 2024/25 after a shaky first season with the Wizards. He averaged 20.5 points, 4.5 assists, and 3.0 rebounds in 29.4 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .432/.378/.883.

Like McCollum, Poole isn’t exactly a lock-down defender, but the former Warrior been pretty effective with the ball in his hands and should help New Orleans replace some of the play-making the team lost when Dejounte Murray tore his Achilles midway through the ’24/25 season — Murray’s recovery process is expected to extend into next season.

Poole is owed roughly $65.9MM over the next two years, with $4.25MM in annual incentives ($8.5MM in total) that count toward the tax apron, but not the cap. Bey has two seasons and $12.6MM left on his contract, with $333K in unlikely incentives each year.

Acquiring the duo in exchange for McCollum and Olynyk will reduce New Orleans’ team salary by about $6MM for cap/tax purposes, giving the club some extra breathing room to make additional moves.

Bey showed some real promise as a three-and-D wing in Detroit and Atlanta earlier in his career, but struggled with his outside shot for the Hawks in 2023/24 and tore his ACL near the end of that season, which cost him the entire ’24/25 campaign. He’ll be looking to make his comeback to the court this fall at age 26.

The trade is the second one the Pelicans have made within the last week to add 2025 draft capital. The club previously acquired a first-round pick from the Pacers in exchange for a 2026 first-rounder and now has the seventh, 23rd, and 40th overall picks entering this week’s draft.

The deal won’t become official until July due to Washington’s position relative to the first tax apron, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter). That means there’s still a possibility it could expand to include more teams and pieces before it’s finalized.

If it’s completed as currently constructed, the Wizards would be hard-capped at the first apron for the 2025/26 season as a result of taking back more salary than they send out.

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Pelicans Notes: Alvarado, McCollum, Zion, Tax, Brooks

April 4th, 2025 at 8:18pm CST by Luke Adams

With most of the Pelicans‘ usual starters shut down for the rest of the season, guard Jose Alvarado has become a primary scoring option, having led the team with 16 field goal attempts in each of the past two games. Typically a complementary player on offense and more of a defensive specialist, Alvarado admitted that the new role has taken some getting used to, per Rod Walker of NOLA.com.

“When you have guys like CJ (McCollum) and Zion (Williamson) and Trey Murphy who create so much attention, you get the easier shots,” Alvarado said. “Now they are all out and the scouting (reports) are more about you in that sense. The guys know my weaknesses and not my weakness, so they test you mentally. You’ve got to continue to make shots and continue to improve. You’re going to turn the ball over, but you’ve got to keep going. You’re going to miss shots, but you’ve got to keep shooting.”

Alvarado’s performance as a go-to scorer has been up and down. He’s made just 11 of those 32 shot attempts over the past two games, including 1-of-12 three-pointers, while turning the ball over nine times. Still, he appreciates that he and some of his fellow role players are getting the chance to take on additional responsibilities as the season winds down.

“The positive is that it’s a season that Jose gets to grow,” Alvarado said, referring to himself in the third person. “Young guys get to grow. A chance to see what you’re capable of doing. …The younger guys and me are learning a lot. I’m learning as this process goes on and it’s going to get me better later in my future. I have to understand that.”

Here’s more on the Pelicans:

  • In a separate story for NOLA.com, Walker explains why it was a no-brainer for the Pelicans to shut down Williamson and McCollum for the final two weeks of the season due to health issues.
  • Speaking to Mark Medina of Sportskeeda, McCollum discussed his right foot injury and expressed optimism that he’ll fully recover soon enough to have a relatively normal offseason and be 100% healthy when training camp opens in the fall. McCollum also touched on several other topics in the interview, including his belief that Williamson’s professionalism and work ethic have improved this season and what he thinks a fully healthy version of this Pelicans team would be capable of.
  • The Pelicans’ team salary is technically over the luxury tax line by about $530K following their signing of Kylor Kelley to a 10-day deal, notes Eric Pincus at his Subtack. However, ownership isn’t about to pay a tax bill for the first time in franchise history. As Pincus explains, a $700K bonus for Dejounte Murray currently counts against the cap because it was considered likely entering the season, but Murray won’t earn it after appearing in just 31 games this season. Once that bonus comes off the cap after the season, New Orleans’ team salary will dip back below the tax line by approximately $170K.
  • Rookie forward Keion Brooks, who signed a two-way contract with the Pelicans on January 9, had appeared in just two NBA games for the team until March 21. Since then, he has played in six straight and averaged 8.8 points and 3.5 rebounds on 52.4% shooting in 22.3 minutes per night. Brooks, who says he wants to display his versatility and show he’s a “winning player,” is taking full advantage of his opportunity, Walker writes for NOLA.com. “He’s showing that he belongs here,” Alvarado said of his teammate. “It’s not only about scoring, but it’s about his effort in everything he does. Defensively and rebounding. Obviously the offense is going to show. I’m happy for him. He’s going to be a good player in the NBA.”
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