In a new interview, All-Rookie Wizards forward Alex Sarr tells Grant Afseth of RG.org that his growth during his debut NBA season extended beyond his solid stats.
“I feel like kind of everything,” Sarr told RG. “Defensively, I think physicality. Offensively, trying to get to the rim more, more drives. So I think that’s how I developed the most, for sure.”
Across 67 contests, the 6’10” forward logged averages of 13.0 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 2.4 APG and 1.5 BPG for Washington. He had a fairly inefficient start as a shooter, Afseth notes, as he connected on just 39.4% of his field goal takes and a scant 30.8% of his long range takes.
“They’re holding everybody accountable,” Sarr told Afseth regarding the approach of head coach Brian Keefe and his staff. “Trying to build something here and everybody’s bought into building our identity.”
After an encouraging debut 2024/25 season, Sarr is now gearing up to represent his native France in this summer’s EuroBasket competition.
There’s more out of the Southeast Division:
In a new Wizards offseason preview, Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link) breaks down routes for Washington to add to its $18.4MM in cap space; takes stock of the trade markets for veterans like Khris Middleton, Marcus Smart, and Jordan Poole; and proposes methods for the team to move up in this year’s apparently loaded draft.
Bringing back free agent Hawks guard Caris LeVert is expected to be a primary goal for Atlanta this summer, reports Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (subscriber link). Williams LeVert proved critical as a bench scorer, and helped stabilize Atlanta’s minutes when All-Star guard Trae Young sat. After being acquired in a February trade, LeVert posted averages of 14.9 PPG, 3.7 RPG and 2.9 APG. Atlanta finished the season after the deadline on a 17-14 run. The 30-year-old has wrapped up a two-season, $32MM deal. Williams notes that Atlanta possesses LeVert’s Bird Rights, meaning they could sign him to a big deal regardless of whether it digs into the club’s salary cap.
With the Hornets currently in the midst of the longest active playoff drought in the NBA, Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer (subscriber link) examines Charlotte’s roster and considers which players will and will not return. Despite a few play-in tournament stints, the Hornets have not made the playoffs proper since 2016.