Alex Sarr reacts to his second selection as the Washington Wizards send three to All Star weekend for the second consecutive year
One year after Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr and Bub Carrington represented the organization during All-Star weekend, the Washington Wizards will again send three players in the 2026 Rising Stars Game after Tre Johnson, Kyshawn George and Alex Sarr were honored ahead of Tuesday's tipoff.
"It's exciting. It's exciting that I get to go there with two of my teammates again," Sarr said postgame about the All Star weekend selection. "We're gonna have a good time. It's a good experience. So I'm excited to play that game."
"Excited just for the experience, to be out there, to be honest. Just [a] blessing, I would say," Johnson added.
Of course, the trio also went out to take care of business as Sarr matched his season-high with six blocks to go with 29 points and 12 rebounds for his tenth double-double of the season. George was one of two players to finish with 19 points while finishing just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds, while Tre Johnson finished as one of five in double figures scoring behind a trio of threes. It proved to be enough in a 115-111 win against Deni Avidja and Portland as head coach Brian Keefe spoke glowingly of the trio's maturity.
"I think the biggest thing is the reason those guys got into those games - and we talked about this with our whole team - is they just focus on the process," Keefe said after the win on Tuesday night. "So, like, I wasn't - that happened last night. We acknowledge them. That was great. We want to always celebrate our guys, but they had a basketball game to play tonight, and they prepared like they always do. I think those are good lessons because you're going to have lots of things happen throughout your career, some really positive stuff like that, but you got to go play the game. And I thought our guys stepped up and played the game tonight. That was really good."
With Sarr the lone back-to-back selection, he'll have a familiar face on his team with both Sarr and rookie Tre Johnson drafted to 'Team T-Mac' alongside Kon Knueppel, Ajay Mitchell, Kel'el Ware, Cam Spencer and Jaylon Tyson. George, meanwhile, will team up with Matas Bezels, Cedric Coward, Egor Demin, VJ Edgecombe, Derik Queen and Jaylen Wells on 'Team Vince.'
"That's over. It's over. I feel like that’s a pretty good team, especially at the rim," Tre Johnson joked about teaming up with Sarr and Ware. "I mean, Alex [Sarr] having somebody tall beside him to stretch the floor a little bit. I know he’s excited about that, but yeah, I feel like it’s gonna be fun.”
The Wizards will return to action on Thursday night against Milwaukee with Washington taking each of the last two matchups by a combined four points. CJ McCollum, who was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in the Trae Young trade, drilled the game-winner in the last matchup on New Year's Eve.