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The Washington Wizards announced today the team has exercised the fourth-year rookie scale team option on guard Bub Carrington, forward Kyshawn George, and forward/center Alex Sarr. The team also exercised the third-year rookie scale team options on guard Tre Johnson and forward Will Riley.
Bub Carrington acknowledged, in the plainest words yet, what everyone in the NBA already knew: The Washington Wizards spent the last two seasons tanking to secure the best possible odds in the 2025 and 2026 draft lotteries. During a one-on-one interview with Washington TV station WUSA9, the third-year guard said he and his teammates had been “held back” during his first two seasons in the NBA as the Wizards posted records of 18-64 in 2024-25 and a league-worst 17-65 in 2025-26. Tied for the league’s best odds to win the NBA Draft Lottery in May at 14 percent, the Wizards won the drawing, received the draft’s top pick and used that pick to select BYU wing AJ Dybantsa. According to a league source, the NBA is not expected to discipline Carrington or the Wizards for his comments. The source spoke under the condition of anonymity because the league has not made a formal statement on the matter.
At the Wizards’ media day Monday, WUSA9 sports anchor Marshall Kramsky asked Carrington what the Wizards must do to “flip the script” and reach the playoffs this season. “I don’t think it would take anything that we’re not already saying: being ourselves,” Carrington answered. “Like we’re nice, we’re talented, we’re gifted individuals, all of us. We’re very talented. We just haven’t been told yet to ‘go be the best version of yourself.’”
Anthony Davis: Anthony Davis met with the D.C. media on Wizards cleanout day. I asked if he’s committed to playing in Washington next season. “I’m under contract,” he said. “I love my money.” He said it with a smile. But he also said he’s intrigued by some of the off-court infrastructure that the front office has put into place. Also impressed by the work ethic of the young core. In particular, he liked the answers/thought process from Kyshawn George. Really likes Bub Carrington’s game.
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Josh Robbins: Bub Carrington is now the second player in Wizards/Bullets history to play all 82 games of his rookie season and all 82 games of his second season. The other person: Wes Unseld, who played in 82 games as a rookie in 1968-69 and 82 in 1969-70.
Josh Robbins: Bub Carrington will be out for the remainder of tonight's game because of muscle cramping, Wizards officials said.
Greg Finberg: FINAL | WAS 112, IND 105: Jaden Hardy: 13 PTS, Carlton Carrington: 13 PTS, Anthony Gill: 13 PTS. The Wizards win (lose) the first game of this tanking battle. Washington didn’t play Champagnie or Watkins and benched 3/5 starters for the final 17 minutes, but a late 14-0 run propelled them to a win.
Adam Caporn, Wizards assistant coach: Alex Sarr has really improved as a screener, something we’re always trying to get better at. But when he misses the first screen, he re-screens, and with Bub (Carrington)’s ability to shoot the ball off the dribble, that creates a lot of attention. … Alex just reads his closeout and just attacks. It’s subtle, but I think last year, he didn’t attack with as much ferocity — and understandably. He’s still developing physically. He’s trying to read the defense. There’s a lot going on in the NBA. Against size and length, it’s difficult.
Bub Carrington does not regard his newest accomplishment as a big deal. But the numbers reveal how rare his achievement is. On Thursday night, when his Washington Wizards host the Denver Nuggets, he will play in his 125th consecutive regular-season NBA game. Streaks like Carrington’s don’t happen often. He owns the NBA’s fourth-longest active consecutive games streak, trailing only the New York Knicks’ Mikal Bridges and the San Antonio Spurs’ Harrison Barnes and Julian Champagnie, according to Sportradar.
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Carrington doesn’t call attention to his own streak, and, during an interview Wednesday afternoon, he sounded as if he would prefer that everyone would focus on almost anything else. The number of games he’s played in a row, he explained, is a byproduct of his love of the sport and the fierce work ethic fostered by his late father, Carlton Carrington Jr., a beloved youth basketball coach who was known as “Big Bub;” his mother, Karima Carrington; and his older brother, Kareem Montgomery, who played football at Lehigh University.
“I find joy in playing basketball every single day,” the Wizards guard said. “I don’t see it as a streak, honestly. I don’t see it as what everyone else does. This is my job. I made it this far so that I can play basketball, so I can be in the NBA and I can play basketball every day. “Missing games, I didn’t know until I got here (that that) was a norm. Like, I thought playing was the norm, but it’s really not, in a way. The streak, that doesn’t really mean anything to me. It’s just me going out there and doing what I love to do. It’s normal. It’s normal playing every day, you know?”
He was traded from Washington in the summer of 2024 for Malcolm Brogdon and first-round picks from 2024 (used to select Bub Carrington) and 2029. At the time, the trade was largely viewed as an overspend by the Blazers for a player who averaged 14.7 points and 7.2 rebounds the year prior. After his first 20 games, Avdija scuffled, averaging 11.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists. In eight of those games, he came off the bench. “When I came here, it was hard for me to find my role,” Deni Avdija said. “I had to find a new identity.”
After sleepwalking a bit through the first half, the Spurs woke up and flipped the switch in the second half, turning a four-point leading into a blowout 119- 94 win, allowing the starters to rest since they play again tomorrow in Atlanta. Dylan Harper led the way with a career high 24 points, and five other Spurs joined him in double figures. Five Wizards scored in double figures, led by 18 from Alex Sarr and 17 from Bub Carrington.
