Washington, DC – Entering Tuesday night's home date with the Detroit Pistons, the Washington Wizards have the NBA's second-longest losing streak at 12 games. They also have the second-worst record (16-51), but four-time All-Star Trae Young is showing why next season will be different.
After Monday's 126-117 loss to the Golden State Warriors, rookie wing Will Riley told ClutchPoints how 27 years old He has transformed the Wizards' offense since making his debut for the team on March 5.
I asked Will Riley how Trae Young has impacted him as a player and the offense in general:
"Yeah, he's an amazing player. It's crazy to see it in person, I used to watch him all the time. Seeing the reads he makes shows how much attention he brings. The attention he brings... pic.twitter.com/43TLFAsX4v
-Joshua Valdez (@joshvaldez100) 17 March 2026
"Yeah, he's an amazing player. It's crazy to see it in person, I used to watch him all the time," said the 20-year-old. "Just seeing the reads he brings shows how much focus he brings. The focus he brings allows him to find us on time and on target, so it opens up a lot of opportunities for everyone. He's an amazing person and great teammate, too."
Young is averaging 6.2 assists in just 20.8 minutes for Washington, which equates to one assist every 3.35 minutes. The former All-NBA honoree averaged an assist every 3.1 minutes for the Atlanta Hawks as he led the NBA with 11.6 dimes in 36 minutes in the 2024-25 campaign.
Young's work so far with the Wizards doesn't guarantee he'll lead the league in assists again next year, but it is a preview of things to come. The former Oklahoma Sooner is using his offensive toughness to create open looks for the “Wiz Kids,” which makes their job easier and helps their development.
Will Riley reveals Trae Young opened 'doors'
Riley also talked about what he has learned from Young so far.
"Reading off ball screens has been a main point of emphasis... making reads, snaking, being aggressive, trying to score first... it's opened up a lot of new doors for me..." he said.
According to former Hawks G League scout Dylan Murphy, snacking is a pick-and-roll maneuver "in which the ball-handler moves away from his original direction between the screener and the screener's defender." Learning that move adds to Riley's already deep bag of moves, like spins and fadeaways.
An example of how Young "opened new doors" for Riley was executing a hockey assist (pass for assist) on his three-point shot in the second quarter. Young brought the ball up the court before second-year guard Bilal Coulibaly set a screen on the logo and swung to the basket. During the roll, Young threw the ball towards Koulibaly, causing the defense to collapse inside. then the next player passed it A wide-open relay in the corner, who swept all three.
Beautiful sequence right here 🤌 pic.twitter.com/Uc02NxzIlr
- Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) 17 March 2026
Head coach Brian Keefe referenced the game post-game when describing his favorite offensive moments from Young, Koulibaly and Riley, each of whom led the team with 21 points.
"I thought there were some good moments there. We had some good connections where the ball was moving, Trae was getting two, there was a play earlier when he hit Bilal on the short roll and he passed it to Will Riley," he said. "That's one of the reasons Trae is here, when he gets two he makes the right play. I thought we played him pretty well... You could see the passing skills of all three of them tonight."
Young left Monday's game with a quad contusion and was out on Tuesday, but he at least showed why Washington acquired him in five contests with the team in January. While no one knows how long he'll last, giving the young core open looks and showing him new tricks provides invaluable experience.
For now, the Wizards are losing as much as possible to maximize their draft lottery odds as they try to get lucky in a class with superstar prospects Darin Peterson, AJ DiBuntsa and Cam Boozer. After hosting Detroit on Tuesday, they will do the same on Thursday before hosting the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday.
