Alex Sarr, the No. 2 overall pick from the 2024 NBA Draft, is off to a dangerously alarming start in NBA Summer League.
When Alex Sarr fell to the Washington Wizards in the 2024 NBA Draft, it was viewed as a huge win for a franchise that had not experienced much good fortune over the last couple of decades. For better or worse, Sarr was considered the top prospect in this year's draft class by many and probably would've been the No. 1 overall pick had he opted to work out for the Atlanta Hawks.
Despite his natural skill set and prototypical size for the modern NBA, Sarr has gotten off to a rough start to his career in the NBA Summer League. In fact, that's putting it lightly. Sarr is off to a dangerously alarming start to his career in the Summer League. Even though the NBA Summer League isn't the be-all, end-all for a prospect, it's certainly the moment that can either jump-start their careers or naturally bring about some real questions about their future.
Alex Sarr's concerning struggles in the NBA Summer League
Through three games in the Las Vegas Summer League, Sarr is averaging seven points and seven rebounds on sub-20 percent shooting from the field. His struggles were punctuated by a dreadful performance Tuesday night in which he finished 0-15 shooting. According to ESPN, it was the most field goal attempts by a player without a make in an NBA Summer League game in seven years.
Sarr is clearly struggling on the offensive end of the floor. In fairness, he has shown some flashes of brilliance defensively. And entering the NBA Draft process, that was somewhat the narrative surrounding Sarr. Even though he did have plenty of promise as an offensive project, he was always going to make more of an impact initially on the defensive end of the floor.
For better or worse, that's what we've seen so far from Sarr. That's not to say that his extremely slow start to the NBA Summer League isn't surprising. Even though he was always considered to be a raw offensive prospect, he's been historically bad on that end of the floor.
Mind you, in the NBA Summer League, with all due respect, Sarr is going up against players who may not all meet the requirements for an NBA roster. In an ideal world, you want your high draft pick to be dominating in the Summer League. At least so far, Sarr has struggled mightily. At the very least, that has to be at least somewhat concerning for the Wizards.