It's exciting for a success-starved team like the Washington Wizards to land a player of Trae Young's caliber in any case, but it's especially satisfying for fans when a franchise icon analyzes the situation on its broadcast network. That's what five-time NBA All-Star John Wall did after Young's introductory press conference on Friday.
Wall, who was Washington's last great point guard before it acquired Young from the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, discussed how Young can mesh with second-year center Alex Sarr on Monumental Sports Network's “Wizards Pregame Live.”
“I think the biggest thing for him is to come with his leadership. That's what they want to see from him…I want Alex Sarr to go in and ask questions,” the 2014 NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion said. “Kinda like how me and [Marcin] Gortat had the situation with the pick-and-roll. We know Trae Young can pass the ball, get into the paint, do all those things. I want Alex to ask him, ‘How can I get better at this? How do I read this coverage? When do I pop, when do I roll?'”
Gortat, nicknamed “the Polish Hammer,” played with Wall in Washington from 2013-18, which is the organization's most successful five-year period of the 21st century thus far. The Wizards never finished below .500 throughout those years and made four playoff appearances, including three Eastern Conference Semifinals berths. They nearly made the conference finals in 2017, but lost 115-105 to the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the conference semifinals.
Gortat was the center, and his chemistry with Wall was one of the main reasons why the team was competitive over that time. Gortat averaged 11.6 points on 55.5 percent shooting as a Wizard and signed a five-year, $60 million extension in July 2014, the richest contract he ever received. The 2005 second-round pick did not have a deep bag offensively, but he and Wall's pick-and-roll game created open looks at the basket.
Conversely, Sarr is already developing into an offensive force in addition to being an elite rim protector. Entering Sunday night's road date with the Phoenix Suns, the 20-year-old is averaging 17.3 points on 50.3 percent shooting (35.7 percent 3-point) and three assists over 28.2 minutes despite not having a true point guard to set the table for him before the Wizards traded for Young. Young (quad, MCL) is out indefinitely, but Wall wants him and Sarr to discuss their pick-and-roll strategy in the meantime. If they do, they each have the talent to take Washington further than Wall and Gortat did.
“So I think everything he’s saying is perfect,” Wall said about Young's presser. “All that stuff you heard about him not being a good locker room guy in Atlanta — he’s trying to change that now. He wants to show people he can be that guy, the leader, the one who gets us back to the playoffs, maybe even back to the Eastern Conference Finals like he did in Atlanta.”
Trae Young touts leadership goals with Wizards
As Wall alluded to, there were several reports over the years that Young didn't always mesh with his teammates in Atlanta, a rumor repeated by Bleacher Report's Eric Pincus on the “Buha's Block” podcast in 2024.
“His reputation is as such that – he’s not necessarily loved by his teammates,” Pincus said of Young. “That’s the buzz. And I don’t like to say negative things, but it’s pretty overwhelming. I guess the intel on Trae is that his teammates don’t enjoy playing with him.”
But Wall was pleased with Young's pledge to help Washington's young core be the best it can be on Friday.
"Just being able to have an impact on my teammates… I feel like I did a good job of that as a young player in Atlanta so being able to be a vet with these young guys here."
Trae Young on what he can to bring to a young Wizards team 🙌
(via @NBA) pic.twitter.com/WK9oFzL0BY
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 9, 2026
“Just being able to have an impact on my teammates,” Young said about what he brings to the Wizards. “I feel like I did a good job of that as a young player in Atlanta, so being able to be a vet with these young guys here.”
Time will tell if Young positively impacts Sarr, third-year guard Bilal Coulibaly, rookie guard Tre Johnson, second-year wing Kyshawn George, second-year guard Bub Carrington, and the Wizards' other young players, but the fact that he named being a positive example for them as one of the main ways he can help the organization is promising. While the 27-year-old isn't a finished product himself, his experience leading Atlanta to the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals and two other playoff appearances gives him knowledge that will be useful to the “Wiz Kids.”
Part of that knowledge is how point guards and centers can be effective pick-and-roll and alley-oop partners, as Young and former Hawks center Clint Capela had chemistry similar to Wall and Gortat. Capela averaged 11.8 points on 59.9 percent shooting over five seasons alongside the former Oklahoma Sooner, and his two-year, $45.4 million extension with Atlanta in September 2021 was the richest of his career. Sarr is also more talented than Capela, so imagine what the French international could do alongside Young, who led the NBA with 11.6 assists per game last season.
None of this guarantees prosperity for Young's Wizards, but history shows that his arrival in the nation's capital is worth being excited about for the fanbase.
