Trae Young has joined the likes of Russell Westbrook and Jordan Poole as high-volume guards who look to re-establish their place in the NBA hierarchy with the Washington Wizards. As was the case with Westbrook and Poole, Young was shipped away from an Atlanta Hawks team that believes in an addition-by-subtraction approach.
Young's future with the Wizards will likely mirror those two guards. Both players lasted just one season with Washington. The Nation's Capital is becoming a playground for guards to increase their output and sell tickets to a suffering fanbase. If the past is any indication, that playground isn't permanent.
The latest 2026 NBA Mock Draft from Chris Kline of FanSided.com highlights that reality. Washington ends up with the No. 5 overall pick in the mock draft, which is important because it's top-eight protected, and takes the best pure point guard in the class: Kingston Flemings.
"Kingston Flemings entered the season as a four-star recruit with muted one-and-done buzz, but he has quickly climbed the ranks to establish himself as, quite possibly, PG1 in a loaded point guard class (depending on your positional designation of Darryn Peterson, of course)," Kline writes.
"Flemings is too quick and precise for most college defenses. He gets to his spots at will and finishes with almost comical efficiency at the rim, able to negate shot contests with touch and physicality."
Wizards would show no long-term faith in Trae Young by taking Kingston Flemings
While Young is the latest high-volume guard to brace the Washington backcourt, there are distinctions between he and his predecessors. Young has previously reached a talent ceiling higher than Poole ever achieved and is still, theoretically, in the heart of his prime. Westbrook was past his prime by the time he landed in Washington.
In theory, there is a path for Young to stick around on the Wizards longer than a season. If everything goes right, the Wizards could have a top-30 player with cap space around him to find another star.
Reality doesn't always match theory.
Young might be a top-30 talent in the league, but it's hard to argue he's a top-30 winner. Year in and year out, we are reminded that high-volume scorers who don't defend simply cannot be part of a championship-winning formula. Just look at Zach LaVine, who has been the poster child for this dichotomy over the last half-decade.
Young is a classic "good stats, bad team" player (shoutout Bill Simmons for the nickname) and that won't change with more volume in Washington. The Wizards know this and the goal over the next four months is to give Young as many chances as possible to convince a more desperate team to take a chance on the scoring upside of the 27-year-old point guard.
The 2018 No. 5 pick has a $49 million player option for the 2026-27 season that he will almost certainly opt into. That isn't detrimental to a Washington team that is years away from relevance, but it would still behoove the Wizards to flip Young for actual assets before the season begins.
A young guard like Flemings needs talent around him and faith from his front office and coaching staff to run an offense if he is going to succeed. Young being on the roster directly flies in the face of that prerequisite.
It's still not set in stone who the Wizards will draft, if they have their own pick, or even if they get one of the draft's big-three players. But one thing seems to be set in stone: Young in Washington will be a short-term residency, not a long-term partnership.