Wizards GM Will Dawkins counters skepticism, stating it's "highly likely" both Anthony Davis and Trae Young will return to play this season.
There's been plenty of speculation on Anthony Davis' status for the remainder of the season. Despite Amazon Prime's NBA Senior Insider, Chris Haynes, reporting Davis is expected to sit out the remainder of the season, Wizards general manager Will Dawkins pushed back.
On 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."
Dawkins said the decision to get Young and Davis was made because they believed the young nucleus of players was ready to take the next step, which entails playing more competitive games.
"I don't know if we're pushing go, but we're definitely signaling that we're done deconstructing," Dawkins said. "When [Michael Winger] and I first got here, we decided to go on the rebuild journey and draft a lot of young players, deconstructed as many future assets as possible, and over the course of time, we said that our players that we drafted will let us know when we're ready to take that next step."
Dawkins said they've been extremely impressed with the young guys and their mentality and "their willingness to get better."
Back to Davis; he currently recovers from a hand injury that originally listed him out for around six weeks. Dawkins said he has a visit with his doctor, but believes both players are trending in the right direction.
Dawkins said they plan to reevaluate both him and Young during the upcoming All-Star break, so they can provide an updated timeline after its conclusion.
Young has been on the injury report for Washington since the team traded for him in early January, listing him with a right knee MCL sprain and a quad contusion. The team has stated on multiple occasions that they wanted to see Young's fit with their young players at some point this year. The plan for a while has been to reevaluate during the All-Star break.
The Junkies asked Dawkins how they plan on managing Davis' health, given his lengthy injury history.
"Obviously, our doctors go through the access they have, but I think a lot of it has been untimely," Dawkins said. "He hasn't had a lot of major surgeries; he's had some dings, but at the end of the day, we just got to get him back healthy and get him back to baseline, and give him an opportunity to go out there and compete."