Washington Wizards center Alex Sarr. Peter Creveling-Imagn Images

Alex Sarr making a last-minute case for Rookie of the Year

By Sai Mohan | Last updated Mar 27, 2025 9:24 AM ET

Alex Sarr's rookie campaign has been a tale of two halves.

In 42 games before the All-Star break, the Frenchman averaged 11.4 points and 6.6 rebounds at mediocre 39/30/64 shooting splits. More worryingly, he was -408 on the floor (-9.7 per game).

In 15 games since the All-Star break, the Wizards center has averaged 17.2 points and 6.8 rebounds at 41/37/65 shooting splits. He's still a net negative on the floor (-4.1 per game), but he is no longer a liability at the end of games.

During Wednesday's 119-114 win over the 76ers, Sarr finished with a game-high 24 points and made several critical plays in the clutch, including a floater with 18.1 seconds left to ice the game. The game marked Sarr's fourth 20-point game of the month — a noticeable progression for a player who began 2025 averaging less than 11 points.

Alex Sarr has been hooping this month pic.twitter.com/nVJCMueOie
— Real Sports (@realapp_) March 27, 2025

Sarr is also starting to get comfortable as a defender, with at least seven games of two or more blocks in March and 10 steals in 14 outings.

The 7-footer's ability to shoot threes and block shots makes him a unicorn in the same vein as Victor Wembanyama. Amazingly, Sarr has achieved a rookie feat that even his famed fellow Frenchman didn't during his historic 2023-24 campaign.

Alex Sarr now has the most games by a teenager in NBA history recording at least one 3PM & one BLK. pic.twitter.com/ifsV1Shyzi
— StatMamba (@StatMamba) March 26, 2025

Sarr is also tied with Stephon Castle for the most 20/5 games by a rookie this season.

Alex Sarr vs. Sixers:

24 PTS
7 REB
2 BLK

Tied for the most 20/5 games by a rookie this season. pic.twitter.com/Ej5DH5Am3b
— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 27, 2025

Castle is still the favorite to win the Rookie of the Year, and rightfully so. The Spurs rookie has averaged 20.1 points, 4.3 boards and 4.5 assists over his past 15 games, operating as the go-to option for the Spurs in the wake of Wemby and De'Aaron Fox's season-ending injuries.

For the season, Castle's counting stats (14.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists) aren't significantly better than Sarr's (12.9 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.5 blocks), but he outshines his Wizards counterpart in terms of advanced metrics and impact on winning.

However, if Sarr continues his blistering form in March into the Wizards' final 16 games, he could make the ROTY race really interesting.

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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