The NBA's rookie entry draft is one of the most exciting times for a team hoping to strike gold on the next biggest thing. Solid contributors have emerged from almost every draft spot, making the selection process a crapshoot. But for the Washington Wizards, the early returns on their most recent first round pick, Johnny Davis, who was selected 10th overall out of Wisconsin, are not looking good to say the least.
In fact, Davis, who has only seen three minutes on the court in his brief NBA career, might be sent down a level so he could work on his game.
According to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington, Wizards head coach Wes Unseld Jr. hinted at a possible G-League stint for Johnny Davis.
“Wes Unseld Jr. says it’s possible the Wizards will send rookie Johnny Davis to the G-League to get him more minutes since he’s outside of their NBA rotation,” Hughes wrote.
While it's not the wisest thing to judge rookies based on the first few weeks of their professional career, Wizards fans will undoubtedly be disappointed with what they've seen and heard about Davis thus far, especially with other mid-lottery picks such as Bennedict Mathurin, Jeremy Sochan, and Shaedon Sharpe carving out solid roles early in their careers.
It's still way too early to write him off, but if he's already being talked about as a potential send-down candidate after struggling for the entirety of Summer League, then Wizards fans are right to be concerned about the situation. Davis, in three Summer League games, averaged 8.3 points on 27.6 percent shooting from the field, posting the worst scoring average among the 11 2022 lottery picks who suited up.
The Wizards drafted Johnny Davis with the hopes that he carries over the scoring prowess he showed in his second year at Wisconsin, having averaged 19.7 points and 8.2 rebounds in 31 games. However, those numbers came on a less-than-stellar 43 percent shooting from the field and 30.6 percent from deep.
Even then, Davis' path to playing time in DC was never clear in the first place, especially with Bradley Beal, Will Barton, Delon Wright, and Monte Morris ahead of him on the depth chart at both guard positions.
Nonetheless, there's a precedent for an inefficient guard who slowly figured things out in the G-League. Golden State Warriors guard Jordan Poole comes to mind as someone who needed time to marinate before emerging in his third-year in the league. Wizards fans will be hoping that Johnny Davis follows a similar career path, should he actually be sent down to the Capital City Go-Go.
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