Stars sidelined indefinitely, raising questions about their season return and the league's battle against tanking.
Anthony Davis and Trae Young were evaluated during the NBA All-Star Break, and both weren't cleared for contact, head coach Brian Keefe said.
Further, Keefe said Davis will be reevaluated once again in a couple of weeks. Davis has been in Dallas visiting with his own doctor. The team said Young had been doing non-contact basketball activities for a period of time.
Young is out with a listed right MCL sprain and a quad contusion. Davis has been out since he suffered an injury to his left hand on January 8th. NBA on Prime reporter Chris Haynes reported Davis would miss the rest of the season, but general manager Will Dawkins pushed back on that notion.
Last week, during his bi-weekly interview with Washington D.C.'s morning talk show, The Sports Junkies, he said he believes it's "highly likely" Davis and Trae Young will play at some point this season.
"That's the goal. We want to see our guys together so we can build camaraderie and build some continuity towards the end of the season," he said.
Washington has said on multiple occasions it'd like to see what Young's fit looks like with Washington's young players. However, with 29 games to play, the chance that both play in more than a few games seems unlikely.
A major topic of conversation during the break was the league's stance on tanking and how prevalent it has been this season. The Sports Junkies asked for Keefe's thoughts on the situation.
"We're focused on what we can control here...our whole focus has been the development of our team...we're going to give our guys opportunities to grow, and that's not going to change," Keefe said.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league is considering all possible solutions to prevent the practice from happening again. He acknowledged tanking as something that's been part of the sport for decades, but believes it's worse this year.
The league fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 and the Indiana Pacers $100,000 for conduct deemed as detrimental to the league. Silver cited the integrity of the game as the leading issue around the practice.
The Wizards return to the floor with back-to-back home games against the Indiana Pacers. Washington currently sits at 14-39, the second-worst record in the league. Indiana is 15-40.