But the Wizards had already made it clear that they wouldn’t sit back and settle in for a routine night. Shortly before the draft began, they agreed to trade forward Deni Avdija to the Portland Trail Blazers for guard Malcolm Brogdon, the 14th pick on Wednesday, a first-round pick in the 2029 draft and two second-round picks , according to two knowledgeable people. of the transaction. They selected Baltimore native Bub Carrington, an 18-year-old guard who spent his first year in Pittsburgh, at 14th overall, then solidified their status as the most active team in the first round by trading picks with the Knicks. New York.
Washington moved up from No. 26 to Miami forward Kyshawn George with the No. 24 pick. The Wizards also sent the 51st pick, their only pick in Thursday’s second round, to New York. Never mind the lackluster reputation this draft class had earned due to its lack of star power – general manager Will Dawkins made it clear that his priority was getting talent in.
“We will always be aggressive. We’ll always try to be strategic, and when you have time to prepare, you kind of identify your players and the people you want to go after and you do your best to go after them,” Dawkins said. “Sometimes it works – it takes two to tango – but we try to identify people first, identify talent, and if we can find it, we’ll get it. I think you’ve seen over the last couple of years that we’re willing to move and go after whoever we want.
ESPN was first to report the Avdija trade, which is in line with the Wizards’ overall goals as they enter the second year of rebuilding: looking to gather trade capital and preparing to acquire lottery picks high in the next drafts. There’s plenty of talent in the 2024 draft class, but none as enticing as Cooper Flagg, next year’s projected No. 1 pick who is expected to attend Duke for the upcoming college season.
In the meantime, Sarr — the second Frenchman selected in Wednesday’s first round after Atlanta took Zaccharie Risacher first and the second Frenchman the Wizards added so many years after 2023 first-round pick Bilal Coulibaly — is a great candidate who can’t wait to play. in DC A fluid big man with an all-around game, he is a talented shot blocker with the ability to shoot from the perimeter and a maturity that comes from playing in the Australian National Basketball League. He averaged 9.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 17.2 minutes per game for Perth, which had the second-best record in the NBL.
“When we talk, he knows he’s probably going to be a defensive player first and foremost, and that’s the approach you see when you see him in a professional league, stronger, playing center in a physical league over there in Australia,” Dawkins said. “If you look at those playoff games, he had significant minutes as a backup. And he had energy, he talked, something young players don’t do. He called things defensively. You’re going to watch him in training, you’re going to watch him during shooting sessions, and the professionalism comes through. »
Sarr will benefit not only from this experience but also from the knowledge passed down by his family. His father, Massar, played professionally in France and his older brother, Olivier, spent the last three seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was in the Thunder gym, training with his brother, that Sarr met Wizards general manager Will Dawkins, who came to Washington from Oklahoma City last summer.
Between the Wizards’ need for a center after trading Daniel Gafford last season and Sarr’s relationship with Dawkins, Washington looked like a golden opportunity. Sarr said on a conference call Wednesday that the Wizards were the only team he worked out for before the draft. He spent the other two months of his preparation training in Santa Barbara, California.
“I think it’s a really interesting team,” Sarr said. “They’re really young right now, they’re rebuilding, they’re really going in the right direction, and I think it’s exciting for any player to be a part of that.”
The Wizards loaded up on offense with their other two picks. Carrington possesses an impressive mid-range jumper and a playmaker’s eye. The teenager — who attended Baltimore’s St. Frances Academy, which also produced WNBA rookie star Angel Reese — has collected in averaged 13.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists during his lone season in Pittsburgh. George, 20, is another 6-7 wing who shot 40.8 percent from three-point range during his first year in Miami.
The new Wizards are reducing the average age of the roster so much that Washington’s locker room could start to look more like a sophomore seminary, exactly how the front office wants it. Youth means one thing: flexibility. Especially for Sarr, whose versatility and sky-high potential set him apart, which should give the Wizards options down the line. If he becomes a star, Sarr could shine lastingly in Washington. Or he could possibly help Washington acquire a championship-caliber superstar.
The imminent arrivals of Sarr, Carrington and George could help ease the pain caused by Avdija’s departure.
The Israel native had as close a season as possible playing for the second-worst team in the NBA, and he’s endeared himself to Wizards fans in the four years since the organization drafted him ninth overall in 2020.
He averaged a career-high 14.7 points and 7.2 rebounds while shooting 50.6% from the field as the Wizards finished with a 15-67 record. And although he is only 23 years old, he has become a pillar of the locker room thanks to his seriousness and his sense of humor.
With Brogdon, the Wizards are preparing to sign a 31-year-old guard who is entering the final year of a contract owed to him to the tune of $22.5 million. A former star player at Virginia, selected in the second round of the 2016 draft, Brogdon averaged 15.7 points on 44% shooting and 41.2% three-point shooting in 28.7 minutes in 39 games for the Trail Blazers.