Wizards' Tre Johnson impresses in his confident NBA Summer League debut

New York Times

12 hours ago

LAS VEGAS — It is a fool's errand to watch an NBA rookie's summer-league debut and then draw definitive conclusions about how his career will play out.
But the annual July exhibition games can illustrate capabilities and weaknesses.
On Friday night, in the Washington Wizards' 2025 NBA Summer League opener, lottery pick Tre Johnson demonstrated he possesses a characteristic that an outstanding shooter must have if he's going to succeed: Confidence.
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Johnson scored 18 points as he made three of the five 3-pointers he attempted. Asked afterward whether he felt any nervousness, he answered, 'Nah, not at all.'
Apparently not.
Johnson sank the first trey he attempted. As Kyshawn George dribbled upcourt in transition and reached the paint, Johnson positioned himself at the right break of the 3-point arc and caught a pass from George. Johnson then set his feet, elevated and released his shot over the outstretched right arm of a 6-foot-11 defender, the Phoenix Suns' Oso Ighodaro. Johnson's high release point — something that draft analysts identified as one of his strengths after his lone year at the University of Texas — translated well to the NBA game on that sequence.
And Johnson didn't look rattled either.
'He doesn't have nerves,' said J.J. Outlaw, a Wizards assistant coach who is serving as the team's summer league head coach.
His long-range sharpshooting was one of the relatively few bright spots the Wizards could point to from their 103-84 defeat to the Phoenix Suns at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center. Although the result of a summer league exhibition matters very little, if at all, Washington no doubt would have liked to perform better. After all, the team started George, Bub Carrington and Alex Sarr, who all logged extensive minutes last season as rookies and had been in the practice gym and weight room since early May. What was even more embarrassing was that the Wizards did not play with the force that Outlaw had set as one of their goals.
'We talked about it day one of camp,' Outlaw said. 'We wanted to be the most physical team on the floor, and we wanted to be the most selfless team on the floor. I did not think we played selfish basketball whatsoever, but we certainly got out-physicaled.'
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Sarr, who finished fourth in the 2024-25 NBA Rookie of the Year voting, was a non-factor in the first half as he often matched up against incoming rookie Khaman Maluach, the 10th pick in the draft last month. Sarr failed to gather a single rebound or block a single shot in his 15 first-half minutes before he recovered somewhat in the second half. He finished with 15 points, four rebounds and three blocks. Still, if anyone was emblematic of Washington's lack of physicality, especially early, it was Sarr, who said it took him a while to get into the flow of things.
'I should have attacked the game from the first half like (that),' Sarr said. 'But I'm glad I got it going a little bit in the second half.'
George was Washington's best player Friday, scoring 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting. He also gathered seven rebounds and dished out three steals, albeit with five turnovers.
If the Wizards had dominated the Suns, it would not have been out of the question for Wizards general manager Will Dawkins to decide to hold out George, Carrington and Sarr from the team's remaining summer league games.
Now, it's unclear what Dawkins will decide to do.
Johnson and fellow rookie draft picks Will Reilly and Jamir Watkins will continue to play. For them, the key is to get acclimated to the NBA game, to more athletic, more skilled competition and to what Wizards coaches want.
It's a whirlwind — a whirlwind that George remembers from 12 months ago.
He was impressed with how Johnson handled his debut.
'I think he played good,' George said. 'He played aggressive. He played with a lot of confidence, which was expected. It was his first game, his first start. He's only going to get better from here.'
Johnson's biggest highlight of the night had nothing to do with his trademark outside shooting. In the first quarter, he stole an errant pass, sped forward with the ball and then picked up his dribble at the 3-point line. After a pump fake prompted Maluach to jump, Johnson threw the ball off the back of Maluach's right leg, regained possession and dribbled ahead for a layup.
At that moment, he looked flashy, not merely confident.
But after the game ended, he explained that he had expected Reilly to cut toward the basket and attempted to pass the ball to Reilly. Johnson said when the ball careened off Maluach's leg, he decided to improvise.
Improvisation is a skill, too.
And on Friday, Johnson provided tantalizing hints about his skill level.