Washington

Wizards

There were few positive takeaways for the rebuilding Wizards at the outset of the Trae Young era as they gave up 128 points on the defensive end of the floor and shot just 42.5 percent on the night. The 20-year-old big man has been extremely impactful for fantasy purposes this season, averaging 17.2 points, 7.5 assists, 3.0 assists, 0.8 steals and 2.3 blocks through 28 games. The Wizards close out the week with a road tilt against the Suns on Sunday evening.

George and Middleton are back after not being available for Wednesday’s loss to the 76ers. Their returns mean that Bub Carrington and Justin Champagnie will come off the bench, lowering the fantasy ceilings of both players.

George is back after missing Washington’s last seven games with a strained left hip flexor. With the Wizards having traded CJ McCollum to the Hawks on Wednesday, they may start George and Tre Johnson together on Friday. Johnson has been Kyshawn’s replacement in the starting lineup.

Robbins claims that “the plan is for [Young] to rehab his ankle in-house” and take his time returning to the court. The Wizards then anticipate Young picking up his $49 million player option for 2026, at which time they will see how well he fits alongside young players like Alex Sarr and Kyshawn George. Slow-playing Young this season makes sense, considering the Wizards’ first-round pick is top-eight-protected. That means that, if the Wizards lose enough games to pick inside the top eight in the 2026 NBA Draft, they will keep their pick, but if they pick outside of the top eight, the New York Knicks will control the rights to the Wizards’ pick.

With CJ McCollum (quad) sidelined for the first time this season, Carrington entered the starting unit for Washington. It seems likely that he’ll get at least one more start on Friday against the Pelicans since the Wizards traded for Trae Young and shipped out McCollum right after the game ended. Young had been dealing with a quad injury, so Carrington should start until he is available to make his debut for the Wizards, giving him limited streaming value.

Rumors had been heating up, and now it’s official. Young will head to Washington after appearing in just 10 games during his eighth season with the Hawks. Young will be reunited with Travis Schlenk, who drafted Trae in 2018 and is now an executive with the Wizards. The Wizards will have the rest of this season and, assuming he opts into his contract for next year, all of next season to decide if they want to keep Young around. It was a low-cost move for Washington, and they added a former All-NBA player that led the NBA in assists last season. If they’re able to add another top pick in the draft this season, the Wizards will have one of the best young cores in the NBA and a star point guard to help facilitate things on offense. Plus, Washington has enough length to make up for Young’s defensive limitations. Trae has been sidelined recently with a quad injury, but that could certainly heal up quickly now that he’s on a new team.

Between injuries and subpar performances, it was a rough start to the season for Coulibaly. However, this recent stretch has been a productive one. He wasn’t able to contribute any defensive stats, which has inflated his recent value, but he was able to have a solid night on offense. He’s known for his defense, but any consistency on offense will help him be even more valuable for fantasy managers, which makes his recent games encouraging.

After having his lowest-scoring game as a starter on Tuesday, Johnson responded with a strong outing on the second night of the back-to-back. This was the second 20-point game of his rookie season, with the other also coming during the seven games since he moved back into the starting lineup. Johnson has flashed plenty of upside as a rookie, mostly as a scorer and shooter, though his production in standard fantasy leagues has been limited this season.

Khris Middleton sitting out the second game of a back-to-back is unsurprising, but CJ McCollum’s inclusion on the injury report may have raised some eyebrows, given recent trade rumors. Carrington and Champagnie move into the starting lineup, and both are worth streaming in deep leagues due to Washington’s lack of depth.

Coulibaly was one of six Wizards in double figures on Tuesday, but the steals category is where he set himself apart. The five steals were a career-high for the third-year wing, who recorded four in a January 2 win over the Nets. Rostered in 26 percent of Yahoo! leagues, Coulibaly has been close to a top-50 player in eight- and nine-cat formats over the past two weeks. While those who have him rostered may consider selling high, managers in leagues where Coulibaly is available should think about picking him up.