Wizards 2025-26 Player Grades: Trae Young

"Although we did not see much of him - five games to be exact - we still were able to see what this team will look like with him at the helm. The playmaking immediately took a step up. Young was able to generate more open looks for teammates due to his gravity. Players like Bilal Coulibaly and Tre Johnson looked great besides Young.

"It will be interesting to see how the defense looks with him, as Washington had one of the worst defenses in the league. He has some pieces though to pick up his slack in that area. It was a short five games, but we were able to see what Young can do with the Wizards. He proved the future is bright in the DMV." - Bryson Akins

Bryson's Grade: B+

"The Wizards have spent years without a true point guard. The Jordan Poole experience was fun when the going was good, but he wasn't the long-term table-setter that the Wizards' young corps of supplementary role players needed to keep developing, nor was he overly-interested in getting everyone as involved in the scoring attack as he was.

"This is where Young immediately separated himself from the rest of Washington's current pack and every lead guard who'd passed through the city over recent years. It wasn't just that he gave more meaning and structure to off-ball weapons like the rim-running Coulibaly or a sniper in Johnson; his presence alone seemed to empower the prospects to challenge the rim like he did, as the relatively-flimsy band of Wizards desperately needed someone, anyone, to impose their will on a defense as a perimeter slasher."

"It's true that he'll need to shape up defensively to stick it out on a potential long-term contender in Washington. These ongoing playoffs continue proving that as valuable as passing and floor-spacing are to the modern game, defense and physicality will always win out when buckets from point-blank range and late-game stops are required. The fawn-like Wizards are especially weak compared to the bigger squads around them, and no member of the group is smaller and less-impactful on defense than the newcomer.

"He's verbally committed to improving on that end of the floor, but given that he'll be entering his ninth NBA season as a player who's peaked at defensively-neutral within the role he's asked to fill, he'll still need to do some long-term convincing in making the case for his guiding this roster somewhere special. With that being said, is off-court influence is palpable, as are his one-of-one on-ball capabilities and desires." - Henry J. Brown

Henry's Grade: A-