Alex Sarr making a much-needed leap for Wizards in year two

Perhaps Sarr was experimenting with his perimeter game last season. He's a 7-footer, but much skinnier than most post players. The Wizards signed Jonas Valanciunas in order to spare Sarr the stress of manning the pivot every night. As a result, Sarr attempted 5.1 threes per game and barely crashed the boards.

Alex Sarr's rookie season was a gap year for his team

2024-25 was an intentionally lost season for the Wizards. They were focused on accumulating draft picks and trading away any players with large long-term salaries. They weren't focused on winning games.

Sarr wasn't either. He refused to work out for the Atlanta Hawks, who had the first pick and were much closer to contention than the Wizards. But the move steered Sarr to Washington, where he and the team clearly have a long-term approach in mind. The Wizards started three players 21 and younger Wednesday night, including Sarr, and brought three more off the bench, prioritizing development over winning games.

This season, Sarr is showing exactly what the Wizards want to see from a 20 year-old center with sky-high potential. He’s grabbing more rebounds, confidently playing closer to the basket and shooting a higher percentage. He’s taking half as many threes but making them at a higher rate (45.4 percent versus 30.8 percent).

Alex Sarr's development could attract free agents

The Wizards may be low on NBA-ready talent, as loaded as they are with potential. But what they won’t have a lack of next summer is salary-cap space, with the team potentially in line to have $100M to spend in the free-agent market. CJ McCollum and Khris Middleton's expiring deals are worth around $64M combined.

The more that Sarr shows this season, the better the chances that a top free agent would consider teaming up with the young French big man for the next four to five years. The Wizards have plenty of former first-round picks on their roster, but Sarr is the first one of them to show signs that he could become a perpetual All-Star.

There’s another young 7-foot French center who also greatly cut down his own three-point attempts this season. Victor Wembanyama went from 8.8 three-point attempts to 3.3 this season, and focused inside, dunking 22 times in his first six games. 

Sarr is not in the same class as Wembanyama, but it’s encouraging that the season has begun with him following a similar developmental path. Maybe next summer, it will be time for the greatly improved star to start training with Shaolin monks. Until then, Sarr is the brightest spot in a dark Wizards season.