The Washington Wizards recently made a splash by acquiring Anthony Davis from the Dallas Mavericks at the NBA trade deadline. The move gives Washington two All-Star caliber players to build around in Davis and Trae Young, whom the team acquired from the Atlanta Hawks a month ago.
Recently, it was announced that Davis would likely suit up for this season for the Wizards as he recovers from injury, and now, some are wondering if Young might do the same in order to help Washington's shameless tanking efforts.
“Wizards general manager Will Dawkins said over the weekend that Trae Young is expected to play for his new team at some point in the second half of the season,” reported NBA insider Marc Stein on Substack.
Stein also spoke on speculation that Washington would also want to sit Young in order to improve their draft positioning.
“Young is only 27. He played in just 10 games in Atlanta this season before getting moved. Is he going to throw away one whole season of his career because of Washington's, uh, draft positioning prioritization aims?” he wondered.
Young missed the majority of the season for the Hawks this year with an MCL injury that he suffered in October, and has yet to suit up for the Wizards since the trade.
The prospect of adding a blue-chip lottery talent to the core of Davis and Young is certainly an enticing one for Wizards fans, although the recently-flattened lottery odds make it so that losing a ton of games by no means guarantees a team a great draft pick. In fact, the last two number one overall picks were awarded to teams that made the postseason.
In any case, the Wizards are next slated to take the floor on Wednesday evening for a road game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, their final contest before the All-Star break.
