Trae Young got thrown out of an exhibition game on Saturday night and Washington should be fine with it. With 8:18 left in the third quarter at Capital One Arena, the Wizards leading 62-60, Detroit’s Daniss Jenkins bumped Young while running the floor after a Ron Holland dunk. Words followed. Then shoving.
Officials separated them and handed out double technicals. Both players kept arguing, drew a second set, and were ejected together. Accounts differ on who pushed first, which is exactly why this ended as a wash rather than a suspension.
What Actually Happened
Anthony Davis walked over to stand behind his point guard and reportedly told Jenkins, “I know that he’s small, but that’s my boy.” Young finished with 2 points on 1-of-4 shooting, eight assists and five turnovers in 23 minutes. Jenkins had 12 points and four assists. Washington won 114-108 in overtime.
No discipline has been announced by either team and the league has not commented publicly. Nobody threw a punch. For a preseason dust-up this was closer to theater than to anything a front office needs to address, and the Pistons have now been involved in three altercations in two preseason games.
Why the Wizards Needed This
Washington went 17-65 last season, the worst record in the league. Young was barely part of it, playing 15 total games, 10 in Atlanta and five in Washington after the January trade that sent CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert the other way. A sprained right MCL, a quad contusion and back irritation took the rest of his year.
Then he opted out of a $48.97 million player option this summer and signed a four-year, $212 million maximum deal, per Yahoo Sports. That is cornerstone money on a team that has not been competitive in years. The fair question hanging over it was whether Young, at this point in his career and with that security banked, would still care enough to drag a young roster somewhere.
Saturday answered part of it. He got into it over a bump in a game that counts for nothing, in October, with no standings on the line. Players who are mailing in a rebuild do not get ejected from the preseason.
The Bigger Point
Washington’s rebuild runs through Young, Davis and No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa, who put up 14 points and seven rebounds in the win. That group needs an edge more than it needs decorum. The Wizards have been one of the easiest teams in the league to play against for three seasons, and nothing about a 17-65 record suggests politeness was working.
Young also opened the preseason with 15 points and four assists in a 111-109 win at Madison Square Garden, so one 1-of-4 shooting night is noise. The eight assists against five turnovers is the more honest preview of what a Young-led offense looks like when the supporting cast is this inexperienced.
The regular season starts October 21 against Milwaukee. If the worst thing Washington has to explain between now and then is its highest-paid player refusing to be shoved around, that is a cheap problem to have. Teams coming off the league’s worst record should be hunting for exactly this.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.