With Trae Young and Anthony Davis still sidelined, the Washington Wizards have watched other key players capitalize on expanded roles.
The Washington Wizards are back in action on Tuesday night when they take on their divisional foe in the Atlanta Hawks for a 7 PM tipoff.
Tuesday will mark the first of two consecutive games against the Atlanta Hawks in the first meeting between the two teams since the trade that sent Trae Young to Washington in exchange for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert to Atlanta. But Tuesday won't mark the day that Young faces his former squad with the veteran still sidelined with a right knee, MCL sprain and quad contusion. Anthony Davis, meanwhile, is among the six players inactive as he rehabs back from his left finger sprain as general manager Will Dawkins reiterated his expectation that both suit up this season.
"I think he has a doctor's appointment coming up next week to try to get cleared to do some basketball stuff. The plan is for him and Trae to play at some point this year," Dawkins said during his bi-weekly appearance on 106.7 The Fan.
But those roster absences have led the way for several new faces to make their marks in extended showings with the Wizards over the last month after inking Skal Labissiere, Leaky Black, Alondes Williams and Kadary Richmond to deals through the rest of the 2025-26 season.
"These guys were all in training camp and know our plays and know our system. And it played with Sharife and Jamir all year," Dawkins added.
Those expanded opportunities have allowed Alondes Williams to dazzle at times as he finished with a game-high 25 points on 9-11 shooting from the floor with ten rebounds - both new career-highs - in Sunday's win over the Pacers. Even others like Jaden Hardy, acquired in the Anthony Davis trade, have taken advantage as the new Wizards guard has posted double figures scoring in consecutive games to open his tenure with the franchise.
With the expectation that the Wizards continue to give minutes to the rest of the roster while watching the young core pieces capitalize on development opportunities through the rest of the 2025-26 season, Dawkins noted the recent additions has given the staff a chance to "uncover a gem."
"When they're on the floor, they're playing functional basketball. And what we've tried to do is uncover a gem as much as we could towards the end of every season. We were lucky and fortunate to be able to find Jared Butler this way, find Justin Champagnie this way. We just signed Tristan Vukcevic so develop him in that way. And then also give minutes to young players to let Keyshawn kind of shine through, and Bub and Bilal through the years in different positions. So it's very similar to what we've done before. These guys have been ready and competitive."