Draft pick Bub Carrington brings a Baltimore ‘edge’ to the Wizards

About an hour before the draft came word of a surprise trade: Washington sent franchise cornerstone Deni Avdija to the Portland Trail Blazers for veteran guard Malcolm Brogdon and four draft picks. One of those picks was the 14th selection Wednesday night.

On a high-stakes night for the franchise, the Wizards used that extra first-round pick on Carrington, who was the only freshman in the nation to average at least 13.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists last season. For Washington, which is coming off its worst season ever at 15-67, the 6-foot-4 Carrington is another young, long, promising piece for what is expected to be a protracted rebuild. Carrington, meanwhile, will begin his NBA career 40 miles from where he was born and raised.

“Honestly, I did not see this coming,” Carrington said in a conference call with reporters late Wednesday night. “They voiced that they were interested in me, so them picking me wasn’t too surprising. But it’s still a surreal feeling.”

The Wizards added three players in the first round Wednesday, each of them 20 years old or younger. With the second overall selection, they chose Alex Sarr, a 7-foot center from France with defensive upside. Toward the end of the night, they traded up from No. 26 to No. 24 and selected 6-7 guard Kyshawn George from the University of Miami. They dealt away the No. 51 pick in that trade and subsequently did not make any picks Thursday when the draft concluded with the second round.

“We did some things to add three different players to our roster who all have youth, all have athleticism, all play on both ends and all want to be here in D.C. to continue what we have going, and we’re excited about that,” said General Manager Will Dawkins, who oversaw his second draft since he took over the Wizards last year.

Carrington, whose first name is Carlton but who goes by the nickname “Bub,” was a standout, multisport athlete at Baltimore’s St. Frances Academy, scoring more than 2,000 points in his high school career and developing into a top-100 national prospect.

He is well connected to the Baltimore area’s rich basketball heritage. His father, Carlton “Bub” Carrington II, is a prominent local AAU coach. His second cousin is 17-year NBA veteran Rudy Gay. One of his mentors is Carmelo Anthony, whose AAU team Carrington once played for.

“I feel like it molded me as an elite competitor,” Carrington said of growing up in Baltimore. “[It’s] such a basketball-dominant town. There’s a lot of people playing the same position as you. A lot of people are trying to do the same thing as you. So I feel like to kind of separate yourself or to keep up, you got to be the ultimate competitor. Being from there made me that guy.”

Now Carrington is poised to become the second player from St. Frances to appear in the NBA, following journeyman Devin Gray, who played for three teams from 1996 to 2000. (The school also produced WNBA star Angel Reese.) A group of 52 family members, friends, coaches and teammates traveled by bus from Maryland to support Carrington in Brooklyn on his draft night.

“It was just an amazing experience to see a young man fulfill his childhood dream,” St. Frances boys’ basketball coach Nick Myles said in a phone call Thursday.

“It still doesn’t feel real. … It just shows everybody that you don’t have to go to these prep schools. You can accomplish your dreams and do what you want out of your city and represent your community. So it’s a special feeling.”

Myles and Dawkins both identified qualities that stand out about Carrington’s game. He brings size at the guard position. He is versatile enough to play both point guard and off the ball. He improved his three-point shooting as he progressed through his freshman season at Pitt. And he contributes on the glass.

Through the pre-draft process, Dawkins said he also got to know Carrington as a person. Over lunch, they shared their love of football — Carrington is a Baltimore Ravens fan, Dawkins roots for the Buffalo Bills. It was also an opportunity for Dawkins to make sure Carrington could handle the uncommon pressures of playing close to home.

“He’s a competitor, he’s an athlete, and he’s just a sports junkie,” Dawkins said.

Carrington will turn 19 in July and was the sixth-youngest prospect in the 2024 draft class. As he transitions to the NBA, he said he will have to get accustomed to a new level of physicality and improve his defensive intensity. But his high school coach said Carrington had an early edge in honing those traits.

“Baltimore’s known for a couple different things: toughness, versatility, [playing] hard and hard-nosed,” Myles said. “That along with a lot of things is part of Bub’s game. But if you’re from Baltimore, you just play with a certain edge.”