The Wizards exercised team options on five players’ rookie contracts Sunday as it continues to evaluate its young core around Anthony Davis, Trae Young, and AJ Dybantsa.
Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George and Alex Sarr all had the fourth year of their contracts picked up, while both Tre Johnson and Will Riley had the third year of their rookie deals exercised.
NBA first-round picks all sign four-year rookie contracts with the salary on a sliding scale from No. 1 overall to 30. The first two years are fully guaranteed while the latter ones are team options. A player whose third or fourth year is declined by the team that drafted them tends to be viewed as a failed pick by the front office.
Bilal Coulibaly, who is in the last year of his rookie contract and failed to reach an extension with the Wizards before the season, was the first pick in the rebuild, being selected seventh overall in the 2023 NBA draft, a month after Michael Winger and Will Dawkins were hired to run the organization.
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The Wizards’ young players are entering a pivotal season, as the team seeks to compete for a playoff spot following the trades for Young and Davis last season and the drafting of Dybantsa this summer.
“I think they all know it’s go-time,” a scout for another team told The Washington Sun about the Wizards’ young core. The scout is not authorized to speak publicly. “You can see them competing … more than last year.”
The five players whose options were exercised all have some enviable traits, but none have yet proven to be an irreplaceable part of Washington’s future. Carrington has played in all 170 games of his three-year career and flashed some scoring ability. George is versatile, being one of only four players 22 or younger to average 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal per game last season. Sarr, the No. 2 overall in the 2024 draft, was one of two players to average 16 points, seven rebounds and two blocks per game last season. The other was Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama.
Riley has played sparingly through the first six games of the season, while Johnson has been in the rotation as a reserve — including scoring 20 points in the Wizards’ loss to the Raptors on Oct. 23.
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