Washington Wizards: 15 greatest scorers of all-time
player. 142. . SG. (2002-05). Larry Hughes. 12
Fun fact: when I was putting together this list, I had completely forgotten about Larry Hughes‘ time with the team. Considering he started his Wizards tenure playing second fiddle to Michael Jordan and Jerry Stackhouse, finishing it as the No. 2 option behind Gilbert Arenas before Caron Butler came to town, could you blame me?
Hughes signed with the Wizards — which was his third team in four seasons — prior to the 2002-03 season. He didn’t get a ton of shot attempts playing alongside high-volume shooters in Jordan and Stackhouse, but he did average 12.8 points per game with a solid .467/.367/.731 shooting line.
Once Jordan re-retired for good and Stackhouse revealed himself as a washed lemon whose best games were behind him, Hughes received more of the scoring load for Washington as the secondary ball-handler behind Arenas. The uptick in usage obviously led to an increase in shots and points.
His peak with the Wizards — and for his career, really — came in his final season with the team in 2004-05. That year, Hughes averaged a career-high 22.0 points per game with a 52.3 true shooting percentage and a 21.6 Player Efficiency Rating (both were also career-bests).
Additionally, the team’s net rating went from -4.0 to +2.2 when Hughes was on the floor, so he wasn’t putting up empty buckets.
Of course, Hughes found greater team success once he left D.C., as he joined the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2005. Two seasons later, Hughes was in the NBA Finals — mostly thanks to being on the same team as LeBron James. However, his greatest success as a mid-2000s volume scorer came with the Wizards.