The last time the Washington Wizards qualified for the postseason was during the 2020-21 season, during Scott Brooks' last season as the head coach. Ever since the conclusion of that season, the Wizards have regressed as a franchise and have ranked among the worst teams in the NBA. But with every season, the NBA Draft brings hope that a team can possibly obtain that franchise-altering player whom they can mold and build their team around.
The Wizards were fortunate enough to be rewarded with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft and selected Alex Sarr from France. Being a top 3 pick automatically comes with huge expectations, but with Sarr being a 19-year-old rookie, there were growing pains to go through, and he has work to do in order for him to continue to develop. Some of the earlier reports on Sarr were that he lacked the ability to create his own shot and lacked lower-body strength. He has huge potential defensively, but is very raw on the offensive end and will be a work in progress as expected.
Other bigs have been able to move him in the paint quite easily, which leads to a disadvantage that he must figure out. Sarr has the athleticism to maneuver, but he has to be able to hold his ground defensively inside the paint. If he is able to create at least a few go-to moves for himself and try to find his spots on the floor outside the paint, particularly from midrange, he would become more effective for the Wizards offensively. Something had to inspire Sarr after the all-star break because there was a major difference in his offensive approach as it started to pay dividends and also started showing up on the stat sheet.
Sarr's Stats Before All-Star Break | Sarr's Stats After All-Star Break |
|---|---|
PPG 11.4 | PPG 15.3 |
RPG 6.6 | RPG 6.2 |
BPG 1.6 | BPG 1.4 |
Sarr has been able to assert himself more as the season has progressed and appears to have figured out a few things. He scored a career high 34 points on March 15th against the Denver Nuggets and led the Wizards to a 126-123 victory.
It appears that Sarr has transitioned well and that he has shown intriguing stuff in key areas of his game before the regular season concluded. His playmaking ability has been promising, and his ball skills and athleticism have definitely translated. Sarr has to learn how to use his height and wingspan to his advantage on both sides of the ball. During key possessions, he has to realize that the team will be counting on him, and the Wizards should allow him to focus on getting to the rim for higher percentage attempts rather than him always settling for fadeaways or the midrange jump shot.
Sarr's passing is also an underrated aspect of his game, as he has good court vision and ball placement. It's difficult to determine just how much of an impact he makes defensively because of the Wizards rotation but he has shown flashes of what he is capable of doing as he ranks 2nd among all rookies with 1.5 blocks per contest, ranks 9th in steals per game among rookies and was 5th among 1st year players in rebounds per game.
Now that the Wizards know what they have in Sarr, the Wizards' front office will eventually shift their focus to the 2025 NBA Draft and see what kind of player they can add to their young core. As the future of Wizards basketball appears to be bright in D.C., the team should be very excited about what they have seen from Sarr and should expect plenty of winning seasons once they establish a solid roster around him.