Carlton "Bub" Carrington, Kyshawn George and Alexandre Sarr of the Washington Wizards
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 17: (L-R) Carlton Carrington #17 of the Washington Wizards, Kyshawn George #18 of the Washington Wizards and Alexandre Sarr #12 of the Washington Wizards pose for a portrait during the 2024 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot at UNLV on July 17, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images)
The NBA today released the results of the vote for its annual All-Rookie Teams. And after a difficult season, the Washington Wizards finally received some good news.
Two Wizards rookies were today announced as being selected to the NBA All-Rookie teams, an accolade given to those deemed to be the ten best first-year players during the most recent season. 2024 second overall pick Alexandre Sarr finished in fifth place in the overall vote and thereby finished on the first team, while 14th overall pick Carlton “Bub” Carrington finished tenth overall and on the second team, meaning the Wizards join the Memphis Grizzlies as being the only NBA franchise to have more than one player feature.
Lumbering through to an 18-64 record in Brian Keefe‘s first year as head coach, the whole point of the Wizards’ 2024-25 season was to take some lumps now in order to reap more rewards later. Sarr and Carrington combined for 124 starts accordingly, as Keefe and the Wizards’ brain trust gave them plenty of on-the-job training. And the All-Rookie Team voting results confirm that those opportunities were noticed.
One Wizards Player On Each Team
To conduct the voting for these teams, 100 media members are selected and each given five votes for who they think should feature on each. First Team votes count as two points, and Second Team votes count as one. From there, the points are simply tallied up, with the top five recipients being announced as the first team, even if positional overlap means they would not functionally be a team at all.
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle – already announced as the overall Rookie of the Year winner season back in April – was a unanimous first team selection, while first overall pick Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks (99 first-placed votes out of a possible 100) and Jaylen Wells of the Grizzlies (96) joined him. Fourth place went to Wells’ Grizzlies teammate, Zach Edey, and fifth was Sarr, with Miami Heat rookie Kel’El Ware being the only other player to score more than 100 points in the voting.
NBA Communications
A global media panel of 100 voters selected the 2024-25 Kia NBA All-Rookie Team.
The complete voting results ⬇️
Nevertheless, neither Sarr or Carrington should rest on the laurels of their rookie seasons. Both showed tools and promise, but also plenty of areas still to work on, particularly in their offensive profiles.
Plenty Of Work Still To Do
It is true to say that all Wizards players suffered with scoring inefficiency this season. Line-ups that had never before played together were run out regularly, and more often than not looked like line-ups that had never before played together. All the while, the gallant but flawed Jordan Poole dribbled until his palms were orange, and the team pushed the pace at every opportunity, figuring that their young legs and poor half-court offense might as well struggle quickly. All told, the Wizards finished last in the NBA in offensive rating, and Sarr and Carrington suffered accordingly.
Although he scored an impressive 13.0 points per game, Sarr required 12.5 field goal attempts a night to do it, and his 39.4% overall shooting (along with 30.8% from three-point range on a fairly high volume from outside) belie his seven-foot frame. Carrington cracked the 40% mark, but by the smallest possible margin, averaging 9.8 points per contest on 40.1% shooting, with 33.9% shooting from three-point range. Neither found an area of the court they could call their own, struggled from above the break, and were also too easy to stifle at the rim. Offensive polish is needed.
That said, both were also expected to be best defensively, at least initially. And they were. Carrington’s length got him into the passing lanes and kept him in front of opponents at three positions, aided by noticeable improvements in his ball-screen navigation. Similarly, although Sarr was often outmuscled on the rebounding glass, his unignorable length made him able to play in space and around the basket, along with having the lateral movement to defend stretch bigs going the other way.
A Good Start, With More To Come
Most importantly, both got better as the year went on. In April, Carrington averaged 17.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.9 rebounds per game, taking charge offensive and demonstrating that he should be able to both create and consistently make his own shot at the NBA level. And after a 29.7% shooting mark in the month of October, Sarr by the end of the season had shown his short roll patting ability more regularly, played much more consistently, and cut down on the fouls.
There should be a third player in the mix, too. Washington’s third first-round rookie, 6’7 Switzerland native Kyshawn George, received only one second-place vote and finished outside of the team placings in 19th position. However, this is not to be taken as an indictment of his season.
For a 21-year-old 24th pick playing on a disjointed team that gave him 23 different team mates across the year, George too had some moments to savour. In 68 games, with 38 starts, George returned per game averages of 8.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.7 blocks per game, along with turning the ball over a mere 1.4 times per game.
George showed promise at the “D” part of the three-and-D wing profile, and if the three-point shooting (32.2% as a rookie) develops over the coming years, he has the makings of a solid NBA player. A less-wild Kelly Oubre, ideally.
A Recognition Of The Hope In The Wizards’ Future
Further development from George, Carrington and Sarr must be forthcoming if these glimmers of hope are to become anything. The advantage of being knowingly and deliberately at the bottom of the pile as the Wizards have been is the opportunity to give the younger players plenty of minutes of NBA game time to work through their flaws, gain experience, and become better players more quickly. Yet they will now have to actually work to do that.
Nevertheless, after several false starts in recent years, the Wizards have landed a trio with some upside. Two All-NBA rookie team selections represents the most the team has ever received; indeed, since being renamed the Wizards back in 1997, the franchise had only ever had five in its history prior to this season (Courtney Alexander, Jarvis Hayes, John Wall, Bradley Beal and Rui Hachimura).
An 18-win campaign becomes possible to stomach if there is something to show for it. Today’s announcement, happily, shows that there should be. And while there is a long way still to travel, the young Wizards are heading the right way.