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Dan Savage: Anthony Black (right ankle injury management) will be out for the @OrlandoMagic 's home game against the Washington Wizards tonight. Orlando is on the second night of a back-to-back.
The Washington Wizards announced today the team has exercised the fourth-year rookie scale team option on guard Bub Carrington, forward Kyshawn George, and forward/center Alex Sarr. The team also exercised the third-year rookie scale team options on guard Tre Johnson and forward Will Riley.
Not sure if too many fans understood how eye-popping it was to see AJ Dybantsa “pull the chair” defensively on the 264-pound Naz Reid, who tried to post him up in the fourth, leading to Reid losing his balance and falling in the paint. That’s a vet move. Dybantsa’s played two NBA games. “He tried to post me up three times,” Dybantsa told The Athletic. “Two times, I tried to buck with him. I was like, ‘I can’t keep doing this.’ It works when you do it right.”
Trae Young on AJ Dybantsa: “It’s everything that you expected. We didn’t win the first game, but he came out and obviously his presence was felt and he played aggressive. For me, I saw I wanted him to be is just being himself. Obviously he’s told you guys he don’t have a lot of pressure on himself and you can see it in the way he plays and I want him to feel that way. He’s going to be a superstar in this league. He already is going to have a lot of eyes and attention on him any game he plays.”
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Josh Robbins: Final: Wizards 95, Hornets 79 Dybantsa: 17 pts., 8 rebs., 1 asst. Davis: 25 pts., 13 rebs., 1 asst. Young: 21 pts., 7 rebs., 9 assts.
AJ Dybantsa on guarding James Harden: “It’s a tough cover. That’s been one of my favorite players growing up in that Rockets era. Just him averaging 50, that’s obviously one of the toughest covers. You just got to kind of stay solid. You don’t want to put your hand in the cookie jar because he’s super elite at drawing fouls.”
Wizards PR: Wizards guard/forward AJ Dybantsa finished his NBA debut with a team-high 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting, while also providing two assists and two rebounds in 27 minutes. It's the most points by a Wizards rookie in their debut since Tom Gugliotta (20) on 11/2/92 at Charlotte, and tied for the fourth-most points by a Wizards rookie in their debut in team history.
Isaac last played against the Wizards at Kia Center on March 12, the night he suffered a left knee sprain. He missed the final 17 games of the regular season as well as all seven first-round playoff games. According to Isaac, he’s still managing the same injury. “It’s the same thing,” he told the Orlando Sentinel after shootaround ahead of Wednesday’s game against the Raptors inside Scotiabank Arena. “It was a sprain and a bruise. And I’ve had a little bit of nerve issue on the left side of my knee. So dealing with that, it’s been a slow process unfortunately, but it’s been steady. So, I’m happy that I know I’ll play this season.”
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Josh Robbins: Wizards wing Justin Champagnie underwent surgery today to repair a fracture in his right foot, @TheAthleticNBA has learned. The Wizards are hoping that Champagnie will be able to return by the All-Star break. Champagnie suffered the injury during Monday's game in Charlotte.
Trae Young: “Me and Anthony Davis have a pretty good relationship and how we play on the court. It’s more about there’s still five guys on there, the other three guys have to be in their space. If a shooter is in the right space, it could be in the way of Anthony Davis, so it’s a team game. We’ve got to figure out where we all need to be on each and every possession.”
The Stein Line has learned that the Wizards and Bilal Coulibaly did engage in some 11th-hour discussions last Monday. No deal was ultimately reached, meaning Coulibaly is also headed for restricted free agency next summer, but the late-stage talks leave an impression that Washington still sees the former No. 7 overall pick as part of its future.
