Wizards’ Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson earn All-Star Weekend honors

The Washington Wizards are in the third year of a full-scale rebuild that’s been light on wins, but bountiful in developmental progress. That reality manifested on Monday night, when the NBA announced that second-year center Alex Sarr, second-year wing Kyshawn George, and rookie guard Tre Johnson will compete in the 2026 Castrol Rising Stars Challenge, an annual All-Star Weekend event that highlights the league’s best rookies and sophomores.

The Wizards joined exclusive company, per the team’s social media.

“Washington sends three players to the Rising Stars game for the second time in franchise history and becomes the third team to send three-plus players in consecutive seasons (Philadelphia, Houston),” they announced. “Sarr joins teammate Bilal Coulibaly (2024-25) as one of Washington’s five players to attend multiple Rising Stars games (Hachimura, Beal, Wall). Johnson gives Washington its third-straight season with a rookie participant, its longest streak in franchise history.”

Sarr leads the NBA with 2.1 blocks per game this season and ranks second among the 2024 draft class with 14.5 points per game in his career while ranking ninth with a 0.3 Value Over Replacement Player (VORP). VORP is “a box score estimate of the points per 100 TEAM possessions that a player contributed above a replacement-level (-2.0) player, translated to an average team and prorated to an 82-game season,” per Basketball Reference.

Sarr also ranks 40th in the NBA with a 50.5 percent field goal clip (34.4 percent 3-point) and 32nd with 7.3 rebounds per game. The 20-year-old’s field goal percentage is 11.1 percent higher than his rookie clip, and his three-point percentage is 3.6 percent higher.

Meanwhile, George is averaging 15.5 points on 45.3 percent shooting (38.7 percent 3-point) with 5.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.9 blocks, joining San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle as the only players aged 22 or younger to average 15-plus points, five-plus rebounds, five-plus assists, and one-plus steals this season. Castle was drafted No. 4 overall in 2024, while George was No. 24.

Finally, Johnson is shooting 39.3 percent from downtown over 37 games and is the only rookie besides Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel with a 40-plus field goal percentage, 35-plus three-point percentage, and 85-plus free-throw percentage this season. The 19-year-old is also second to Knueppel among rookies with 27 games in which he’s made multiple three-pointers.

Washington’s only player drafted in the first round over the last three years who hasn’t been selected to the Rising Stars Challenge is rookie wing Will Riley, who was picked No. 21 overall in 2025. Coulibaly (No. 7 overall in 2023) made it in each of his first two seasons, Sarr (No. 2 overall in 2024) made it last season and this season, second-year guard Bub Carrington (No. 14 overall in 2024) made it last season, while George and Johnson (No. 6 overall in 2025) made it this season. Riley is averaging just 14.3 minutes per game, which is the sixth-fewest on the Wizards this season.

Conversely, Coulibaly is sixth in his draft class with 29.4 minutes per game in his career, while Carrington, George, and Sarr are first (29.5), second (28.1), and fourth (27.5) in their class. Lastly, Johnson is seventh in the 2025 class with 25.3 average minutes.

That’s a product of Washington prioritizing player development over winning, allowing its young foundational pieces to play through mistakes and gain experience as leaders on the floor. This philosophy has intentionally resulted in losing, as it finished second-worst in the NBA with a 15-67 record in the 2023-24 campaign, second-worst at 18-64 last season, and is dead last at 10-34 this season entering Tuesday night’s slate.

The 2023-24 season led to drafting Sarr, and last season led to Johnson. If it finishes with the worst record this year, it will guarantee a top-five lottery pick this summer in a draft with superstar prospects like BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, and Duke’s Cameron Boozer, as well as second-tier stars like North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson and Houston’s Kingston Flemings.

The Rising Stars Challenge will take place on Feb. 13 at 9:00 p.m. ET on Peacock and will be played at the Los Angeles Clippers’ Intuit Dome.

Michael Winger lauds Alex Sarr, Tre Johnson, Kyshawn George

Monumental Basketball President Michael Winger shouted out Washington’s Rising Stars during his “State of Monumental Basketball” press conference on Thursday, via Monumental Sports Network.

“Because of the very hard work and dedication that our players and staff have exhibited, Alex Sarr is having an All-Star-type season in my opinion. He’s becoming one of the most dominant big men in the league at the rim on both ends of the floor,” he said. “Kyshawn at just 22 years old has already become one of the more well-rounded players in the NBA. He’s one of just 16 players in the league with his combination of points, rebounds, and assists, and he’s the youngest on that list among All-Star company.”

After praising Coulibaly’s consistent defensive performances against opposing stars and Carrington’s three-point shooting (40.5 percent this season), Winger offered kind words about Johnson.

“Tre Johnson, a rookie, is having an unprecedented start to his NBA career,” he continued. “Not far from the revered 50/40/90 mark, he’s shown early signs of his development as a playmaker and as a defender, which comes as no surprise to those who have seen his work ethic.”

50/40/90 refers to shooting splits of at least 50 percent on field goals, 40 percent on three-pointers, and 90 percent on free throws. No rookie has ever finished the season with that stat line over a full campaign, but Johnson has a chance. The former Texas Longhorn is currently shooting 44.4 percent from the field and 88.1 percent from the charity stripe.

It’s no surprise that the president of the team praised the “Wiz Kids,” but they’ve earned his public compliments. Going forward, the key for them is to maintain consistency and prove that they deserve to be part of the organization when it prioritizes winning, which will start next season.

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