It's Trae Young time

The Wizards' would-be star will suit up and will probably sign an extension. Good and good.

Good morning. Just a few more months until the NBA's Boozer shortage ends. Let's basketball.

As I wrote back when the Washington Wizards traded for Trae Young, his acquisition couldn't break what the team had built because the team hadn't yet built anything. The worst thing that could have happened upon the trade – and the subsequent buy-low trade for Anthony Davis – is that the Wizards would be good enough to lose their 2026 first round pick, which is owed to the Knicks if it ends up No. 9 or worse.

Young nor Davis have played for D.C. yet, and the trades actually also served to get useful veterans out of Washington, which has helped the Wizards protect that pick. The team was 10-26 (.278) when it traded for Young. It is 6-18 (.250) since. The Wizards still have a bottom-4 record, which would guarantee they keep their pick. Even falling to the fifth worst record (plausible based on Utah's trajectory) would almost guarantee the pick stays in D.C. It's extremely unlikely the Wizards win enough to "fall" to the sixth worst record ... and even that would probably work out fine.

That's relevant, because Trae is going to make his Wizards debut on Thursday.