With the recent injury of Alex Sarr, the Washington Wizards are in desperate need of help in the frontcourt.
In fact, even prior to the Sarr injury news, Washington's need for big man help was already one of the glaring holes on the roster.
To start the season, the Wizards gave the first crack to Marvin Bagley III, who's in the midst of his second stint in the DMV.
In addition to Bagley, the Wizards have made it a point of emphasis to try their hand at small ball lineups that have helped teams across the league find success up to this point.
Throughout it all, Washington hasn't found much success of their own.
Instead, head coach Brian Keefe has found more inconsistency for his team from bigs not named Alex Sarr.
As a result, the setback for the team's former No. 2 overall pick allowed for the Wizards to take a look deeper on their roster than they may have originally hoped for this early in the season.
Fortunately, Washington may have found a hidden gem that has been sitting on the bench waiting for the opportunity to prove he could contribute all along.
That gem? Tristan Vukcevic
Tristan Vukcevic could be a major answer for the Wizards
Vukcevic is a former second-round pick of the Wizards, who when healthy has shown flashes of his versatility in the team's frontcourt.
Signed to a two-way contract this offseason, Washington's young 7-footer entered the season looking to prove he's worthy of a standard contract and following his offseason work with mult-time MVP Nikola Jokic during FIBA EuroBasket play, expectations were raised for the Serbian native.
However, to start the season, Vukcevic struggled to carve out a role in the team's rotation with his only minutes often coming in blowouts.
Nonetheless, the injury to Sarr has resulted in the big man getting extended minutes over the last couple games and his ability to rise to the occassion may be exactly what Keefe nad the coaching staff are looking for.
Over the last two games, Vukcevic is averaging 16 points, three rebounds and three assists, while shooting 62.5% from field goal range and 33.3% from three in 20.5 minutes per game.
Although the two-game stretch is an extremely small sample size, Vukcevic's strong play may be exactly what he needed to see rotation minutes even when Sarr returns from injury in the near future.