Tre Johnson gets nifty assist to himself off of Khaman Maluach

Friday was only the second day of NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, but there were already a few highlight worthy plays including a smooth windmill dunk from Matas Buzelis of the Chicago Bulls. The highlight reel plays continued at summer league with Washington Wizards rookie point guard Tre Johnson trying to get his own assist by throwing a pass off the back of Phoenix Suns rookie big man Khaman Maluach, and then finishing the play at the basket.

The play came during the Wizards’ summer league game against the Suns with Tre Johnson finding himself isolated against Maluach, throwing a pass to himself off Maluach’s back after getting him to bite on the fake, and then scoring off the play in what normally would have been an assist. Although Johnson finished the play, it’s safe to say he was not credited with an assist.

Johnson was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft by the Wizards, and he joins an intriguing young core on the roster. He is one of eight players on the Wizards’ summer league roster that figure to not only be on the regular season roster, but to get meaningful rotation minutes.

Aside from Johnson, that group also includes last year’s No. 1 overall pick Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George, AJ Johnson, Dillon Jones, Will Riley and Jamir Watkins.

Riley was also selected in the first round of the draft by the Wizards, while Watkins was the No.43 overall pick and signed to a two-way contract. Jones was acquired in an offseason trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Carrington, George and AJ Johnson were all first round picks in 2024. The Wizards acquired Johnson in a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks involving Kyle Kuzma and Khris Middleton.

The Wizards are hoping with this young core, including Johnson, they will be able to turn their fortunes around and take a step towards competing sooner rather than later in the Eastern Conference.