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Bijan Todd: FINAL: Wizards 109, Bucks 99 The Bucks were shorthanded, so Alex Sarr had a career-high 17 rebounds to go along with 16 points. Kyshawn George dropped 23-5-5. Tre Johnson exited with a sprained ankle and his status is something to monitor going forward.
Josh Robbins: Alex Sarr, who missed practice Wednesday because of an illness and was listed as questionable to play tonight in Washington, is now listed as AVAILABLE to play tonight against the Bucks.
"He has an incredibly unique skill set offensively and defensively." Alex Sarr is one of seven players to defend 500 or more on-ball screens this season and use drop coverage at least 40% of the time and switch at least 15%. Gobert, by comparison, drops 64% of the time and switches only 4%. Sarr is also one of seven players to match up defensively against centers 30 times a game, forwards for 10 times and guards for 10 times this season. Offensively though, he's still growing. In two seasons, Sarr has just 16 scores off lob passes and sometimes lacks the aggression or skill in the post to score inside. The 10 pounds of muscle he put on in the offseason have helped cut his 3-point attempts from 5.1 per game to 2.7 this season and increased his points in the paint from 5.8 last year to 11.1 this season.
In addition, the Wizards view Alex Sarr as their center of the future, league sources told HoopsHype, and despite brief exploratory conversations surrounding Sabonis before acquiring Trae Young, Washington is not inclined to trade for Sabonis at this time. If Washington had been incentivized to take on Sabonis’ contract, the Wizards would’ve considered such an acquisition, HoopsHype has learned.
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Basketball Reference: Alex Sarr is the first player since JaVale McGee in 2011 to have at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks in a game for the Wizards. 👀 See the full list here: www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tin...
Given his history with Washington, John Wall said that it would be a good idea for you to ask Trae questions about pick-and-roll coverages and other Xs and Os. What conversations have you been able to have so far? Sarr: “Yeah, most definitely. That’s going to be very important. But we really haven’t had those talks yet. But that’s definitely something that we’re going to be doing. We’ll be talking about the team we’re playing, what’s their coverage and how we want to attack it. That’s definitely something that we’re going to do come game time.”
Is there still a possibility that he can play this season? Dawkins: “Yeah, we’d like to see him with our young guys. I think that’s important.” What importance does that have for the big picture? Dawkins: “It’s important because Trae has a decision to make.” “He’s got the power of choice as a free agent. So you want to make sure that he’s comfortable playing with the young guys, to have the opportunity to play with Alex and to play with Bilal [Coulibaly] and see when they move and how they fit positionally. We have a lot of questions on our team and how we play moving forward. So you want to see that before you make that decision in July.”
You mentioned Alex. Specifically, what are the strides that he’s shown on both sides of the ball? Dawkins: “He’s a talented basketball player. We knew he would be able to figure it out earlier on defense. He’s shown that just with his timing, his physicality, and the growth he made this summer. He’s protecting the paint. I would also say he’s living at the rim on both ends. He’s guarding the most shots at the rim, but he’s also blocking the most shots. He’s putting a fear on players.” “At the same time, he’s more active. He’s changed his shot diet. He’s rolling. He’s at the rim. He’s comfortable finishing through contact with his left hand and right hand. He’s using more physicality to get to the free-throw line as well. The key areas that he focused on this summer that he put a lot of time in and stayed in DC, you see that coming through. We’re excited that the offense is catching up to the defense as well.”
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NBA Communications: The 2026 Castrol Rising Stars ⬇️ Tune in to @peacock tomorrow at 7 PM ET to watch honorary coaches Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter draft their teams from the pool of 21 NBA sophomores and rookies. Austin Rivers will serve as the honorary coach of the @nbagleague team.
The 2026 Castrol Rising Stars ⬇️
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) January 26, 2026
Tune in to @peacock tomorrow at 7 PM ET to watch honorary coaches Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter draft their teams from the pool of 21 NBA sophomores and rookies.
Austin Rivers will serve as the honorary coach of the @nbagleague… pic.twitter.com/WW4quEKMLX
This was a value move that the Wizards couldn't pass up. Young is a four-time All-Star and multiple-time league assists leader at a position of dire need. He can facilitate offense for recent draft picks in shooting guard Tre Johnson (No. 6 in 2025), big man Alex Sarr (No. 2 in 2024) and forward Kyshawn George (No. 20 in 2024). And the cost of taking on Young's $49 million player option for the 2026-27 season wasn't an issue for a team that was projected to hit the offseason with $80 million in cap space. (Washington also cleared $14 million by sending Kispert to the Hawks.) "This is pre-agency," a second East executive said. "The Wizards are using cap space in this deal that they would've had this summer."
Ramona Shelburne: The Wizards will miss McCollum’s veteran leadership and scoring. But the thinking here is a point guard of Young’s caliber will help tremendously in the development of young talents like Alex Sarr.
Gobert didn’t need to look far Sunday to find someone who regards him as a role model. That person was Alex Sarr, the Wizards’ 20-year-old starting center who is in the midst of a breakthrough second season in the NBA. Gobert, the 27th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, has won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award four times and made four All-NBA teams. “He definitely paved the way for French players to get drafted,” Sarr said. “Obviously, Tony did it first, but (Rudy) was one of the guys that did it early, in 2013, something like that. He’s definitely been doing that for a long time, coming from France. So I have huge respect for him and all he does, how he prepares, how much he worked on his body to get to this point and be efficient. It’s impressive.”