Thursday marked the debut of Trae Young, but rookie center Julian Reese proved to be the star of the show for the Washington Wizards in Thursday's loss to the Utah Jazz
On a night when the Trae Young debut drew all the headlines around the NBA, it would be the newest addition to the Washington Wizards roster who made history in Thursday night's ten-point loss against the Utah Jazz.
Rookie center Julian Reese finished with 18 points and 20 rebounds in just his third game with the Wizards. In the last 40 NBA seasons, Reese joins Shaquille O'Neal and Tim Duncan as the only players to record a 20 rebound game within the first five games of their NBA career. He also became the first Wizard to notch ten offensive and defensive rebounds in a game since Antawn Jamison did so back on Jan. 30, 2010. His ten offensive rebounds marked the most by a Wizards rookie since the ABA-NBA merger in 1976-77 while his 20 total rebounds mark the most by any Wizards rookie since Tom Gugliotta against Philadelphia back on Jan. 29, 1993.
All done after just his third career game in the NBA.
"You can feel his presence out there. That’s why he’s here," head coach Brian Keefe said of Reese. "We were down numbers, down size and we needed a body who can come out there and do the things that he’s doing, he’s been terrific."
Reese became the third two-way addition to the Wizards last week as his arrival marked a chance for the Baltimore native to capitalize in an expanded role with both Anthony Davis and Alex Sarr still inactive. While he posted two points and four rebounds in his NBA debut, he finished just shy of a double-double in his second game after posting nine points and eight rebounds, it proved to foreshadow his breakout game where he's making an impact despite being thrown into the fire, like Trae Young noted.
"It’s not easy. It’s definitely not easy being thrown into the fire like this. I don’t care what anybody says, every team in the NBA has some players. Every team in the NBA has players that can go off for 20 or 30 points so every night you’ve got to bring it. Being thrown into the fire like he has this last week, it’s been great to see. This being his third game, having this type of night, I know he’s excited and he’s happy. But his teammates are just as excited and happy for him as well," Young said of Reese.
Maybe the most impressive part of Thursday's performance was Reese draining all eight free throw attempts, though that was an area he prioritized as an upperclassman at the University of of Maryland, improving his free throw shooting by 16.6% from junior to senior year.
The team announced that Anthony Davis will be re-evaluated in two weeks while Alex Sarr remains sidelined due to a hamstring injury that has sidelined him for the last month, but once they return, Reese will likely evolve into the primary backup at the five. But big picture, Reese may be capitalizing on his chance to become the team's primary backup big on the 2026-27 roster as he and Tristan Vukcevic can round out the rotation behind Davis and Sarr. In the meantime, Reese is embracing the next phase of his career materializing at home.
"It's just a lot going on right now. Just, I guess being - I've kind of not even grasped what's going on right now. It's all moving fast," Reese admitted. "Just trying to play my game right now, just trying to get comfortable and get stated here in this new culture.