Trae Young is not a good defender; he never has been, and he likely never will be. Some of those struggles are effort issues, which he absolutely can control, but a lot of it is due to him just not having the height or athleticism to be a force on that end. However, the Washington Wizards have somehow fielded a good defensive team, even with Young as the starting point guard.
They rank 10th in the NBA in defensive rating this season at 109.8, a testament to how well the roster has been built to be able to withstand Young's defensive miscues.
The Wizards have a team loaded with quality defenders
The leader for the Wizards' defense, to no surprise, has been Anthony Davis. At the peak of his powers, Davis was a Defensive Player of the Year-caliber defender; he may not be at that level anymore, but he should still be in consideration for an All-Defensive team vote.
They also have two elite stoppers on the perimeter: Bilal Coulibaly and Kyshawn George. Coulibaly doesn't offer a ton on offense besides athleticism and transition ability, but ever since he stepped foot in the league, he's been a pest at guarding the perimeter. George has also taken massive strides on that end, frequently guarding the other team's best player to start the game since Coulibaly isn't starting anymore with AJ Dybantsa back.
Speaking of Dybantsa, since he debuted, his defense has been on another level. Opponents are shooting 35.1 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from three to go along with six turnovers when they've been matched up with Dybantsa. He has all of the tools to be an All-Defense-caliber player with his length and athleticism, and he's putting it together so far.
Alex Sarr and Deandre Ayton have also held it down protecting the rim, especially in the minutes that Davis sits.
They've successfully been able to hide Trae Young on defense
Throughout Young's entire tenure with the Atlanta Hawks, the team was never able to have a defensive rating below 110. He's a tough player to hide on defense since he's a point guard, so he's consistently thrown into every action, but the rest of the roster has done a great job picking up the slack.
This will be key come playoff time. Young is always going to be a big-minutes player given his importance to making the Wizards' offense run effectively, so he can't really have his minutes cut down in the playoffs, but if the Wizards can continue to play elite team defense with him on the court, that bodes extremely well for their ceiling.
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