Emerging from early struggles, Carrington and Johnson are now igniting the Wizards' backcourt, showcasing potent offense and promising synergy for the future.
The start of the year wasn't kind to the Wizards' young backcourt.
Bub Carrington saw major struggles through 21 games. The second-year guard, tasked with learning the point guard position, struggled to adjust.
Former number six overall pick Tre Johnson showed some flash, but after 15 games of playing through an injury that predates to his time at Texas. Johnson was sidelines for 2 weeks, allowing him to heal from his hip flexor strain.
In the last 5 games where both those two have played, they've provided plenty of evidence that they'll be the backcourt duo after the trade deadline.
Johnson, who put together a 19-point performance on Sunday to tie his career-high, has shot the three at excellent efficiency.
"I've been trying to make shots off the movement," Johnson said. "I feel like I'm constantly improving...just trying to do what's being asked of me."
Johnson's 39.6% is the ninth-best percentage from three among rookies with a minimum of 20 attempts.
In recent games, Johnson and Carrington have played well off one another. Carrington's role as a playmaker has seen vast improvement. His assist to turnover ratio is 3.1 in his last seven games.
"We're both still figuring it out," Johnson said. "I just keep having trust that he'll find me. He knows my strengths; I know his strengths."
Carrington's offensive play over his last seven is the improvement the Wizards badly needed. He's averaging 17 points, and 5.5 assists on 63.9% true shooting percentage. All of those numbers are significant increases from the first 21 games.
Carrington's shooting from the outside has been excellent, knocking them down at a 41% clip.
“Just staying to what I know, shooting shots that I’m comfortable with. We just have the ultimate green [light] from our coaches to be confident and let them fly,” Carrington said last week.
Additionally, his plus-minus improves from -12.8 to -2.3.
Carrington has made his way back into the starting lineup and excelled since. On the other hand, Johnson still comes off the bench behind the veteran CJ McCollum. One could expect McCollum's unlikely to be with the team after the deadline, meaning it would become Johnson's time to play those minutes.
McCollum has been a pretty heavy on-ball presence for Washington, but his usage rate of 24.3% is actually the third lowest of his career, according to Cleaning The Glass.
Whether or not McCollum remains a starter for the rest of his time as a Wizards, Johnson and Carrington should share the backcourt often.
Meaningful development is the number one goal for the Wizards in year-three of the rebuild. With that said, the Wizards have also prioritized McCollum showcasing trade value.
Back to Carrington, his operation in the mid-range game stands out. A major strength in his rookie season appears back to form in the last few weeks. The Wizards have benefitted as a whole. They are 4th in the NBA in pull-up points per game at 25.4.
Pull-up points and three-point shooting as whole serves as a positive sign going forward for Washington. Its top three-point shooters being Carrington and Kyshawn George is definitely an ideal sight.
Johnson's recent surge adds to that.
"I've seen [Tre Johnson] more embrace our offense," Carrington said. "We got a lot of guys,; we can run a system now, and we just have seen him really really improve. and lock in to what he can do in that system."
The Wizards return to action tonight on the road against the Charlotte Hornets.
Although the Wizards only have five wins, the young players are showing signs of life and perseverance over the last two weeks.
"I feel like earlier in the year, things would not go our way, and I feel like we would probably pout and give up," Johnson said. "Whatever doesn't go our way, just keep fighting, just keep playing till the end of the game. I feel like that's been the best part about us."