WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Washington Wizards haven't won a game since trading veterans CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert to the Atlanta Hawks for injured star Trae Young (knee, quadriceps) on Jan. 7, but Monday's 110-106 home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers was their best performance since then. Second-year center Alex Sarr led the way with 28 points (10-19 FG, 2-5 3-point) over 31 minutes and added six rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block.

The 20-year-old told ClutchPoints postgame how the young Wizards are navigating their new situation without McCollum and Kispert.

“Yeah, obviously when players leave it takes a little bit of time to readjust,” he said. “It’s a next man up mentality. Whoever plays doing what they gotta do, and I feel like we're building that chemistry.”

Washington was non-competitive for several straight games since its 131-110 road loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Jan. 7, when McCollum and Kispert sat out prior to the trade occurring postgame. The squad lost four more contests by double digits before falling 121-115 to the Denver Nuggets on the road on Saturday and Monday's narrow defeat to the Clippers.

That's because McCollum was integral to the Wizards' 7-5 stretch over the 12 games before Jan. 7, as he averaged 18.5 points on 47.5 percent shooting with 3.8 assists during that period. The 34-year-old hit clutch shots and was a stabilizing presence for a team with multiple key players below legal drinking age.

Kispert missed the majority of that stretch due to injury, but he still averaged 9.2 points on 49.6 percent shooting (39.5 percent 3-point) over 19.5 minutes in 19 games for Washington this season. Subtracting both McCollum and Kispert without adding anything in the short-term given that Young will sit at least through the All-Star break was a challenging adjustment for the “Wiz Kids,” but the last two games have shown progress.

Not only did both contests come down to the end, but the Wizards' young building blocks thrived. Second-year wing Kyshawn George became the first player in franchise history to score 29 points with five three-pointers made, seven assists, five rebounds, three blocks, and one steal in a game on Saturday, and he followed up with 18 points (6-16, 2-6 3-point), six rebounds, six assists, and three steals over 34 minutes on Monday. The 22-year-old did log six turnovers overall and missed two shots in the last two minutes, but those clutch-time reps help him grow.

Meanwhile, rookie sharpshooter Tre Johnson bounced back with a 15-point (6-12 FG, 3-7 3-point), five-assist, and no-turnover outing against Los Angeles after scoring just four points on 1-of-10 shooting in Denver. The 19-year-old's playmaking has taken a jump, as the tape shows below.

Finally, second-year guard Bub Carrington notched 17 points (7-12 FG, 3-7 3-point) with six rebounds, seven assists, and one block over 37 minutes. The Baltimore native also logged five turnovers, but he hit a step-back three to tie the game at 103 with 2:11 left.

With McCollum and Kispert gone, there's a bigger responsibility on the young core to keep games competitive until Young is back. Veterans like forward Khris Middleton and center Marvin Bagley are still contributing in the meantime, but they don't have the ball in their hands as much as McCollum did. The latter player had a 23.7 percent usage rate over 35 games with the squad, while Middleton and Bagley are at 18 and 18.1 percent, respectively.

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Out of the main rotation players, Sarr leads at 25.2 percent, followed by George (21.3 percent) and Johnson (20.2 percent). Carrington is lower on the list at 16 percent, but he's second only to George with 28.3 average minutes.

Bub Carrington continues productive stretch after early slump

Carrington hit a wall to start this season after earning Rising Star and Second-Team All-Rookie honors last year, as he shot just 32.4 percent from the field with a 1.8 assist/turnover ratio in October and 36.6 percent with a 1.9 ratio in November. However, the 20-year-old more than doubled his scoring average in December (13.4 points) on a 45.7 percent clip along with a 2.2 assist/turnover ratio.

Carrington has experienced more bumps in the road this month, including a 1-for-11 shooting night in a 119-105 loss to the Clippers on Wednesday. However, the former Pittsburgh Panther has shot at least 45 percent from the field in four of 10 games in January and has had an assist/turnover ratio of at least 3.0 in five.

Carrington spoke about how he's improved his basketball IQ after Monday's game.

“I’ve been in these situations for a year now, going on two,” he said. “The more I see things, the better I’ll be at them. I think I’ve been showing that a little bit, I just need experience.”

Gaining that experience is helping Carrington and company improve, even if the progression isn't always linear. Meanwhile, Washington owns the NBA's third-worst record at 10-32, so it's staying on pace to keep its top-eight protected pick this summer. The draft lottery system guarantees that the team will keep that selection as long as it finishes with a bottom-four record at the end of the regular season. The Wizards' pick would go to the New York Knicks if it ended up being ninth or lower.

Up next for the “Wiz Kids” is a home date with the Nuggets on Thursday night.