Worldwide Sports News

WASHINGTON — Less than 14 hours after a 111-109 win over the New York Knicks to open preseason play, the Wizards returned to CareFirst Arena for an early practice.

Alex Sarr, who missed Thursday’s game but is close to returning, is trending toward returning on Saturday, Brian Keefe said after Friday’s practice. Keefe said they’ll know more about Sarr’s official status tomorrow.

Khris Middleton (ramp up) is also nearing a return.

Keefe’s rotation

The Wizards’ rotation on Thursday uncovered some details. It’s reasonable to assume that, when healthy, Washington’s starting five will look as follows:

PG: Trae Young

SG: AJ Dybantsa

SF: Kyshawn George

PF: Anthony Davis

C: Alex Sarr

Deandre Ayton, Tre Johnson and Bilal Coulibaly are the three locks to come off the bench, if those starters hold true. That leaves five players — Middleton, Bub Carrington, Justin Champagnie, Will Riley and Tre Mann — vying for the last two-to-three spots.

Keefe said nothing has been determined regarding his opening-night rotation.

“It’s still early in camp,” Keefe said. “We’re trying different combinations, seeing what works. Those [rotation] decisions haven’t been made yet.”

Carrington and Champagnie play well in opener

Both Carrington and Champagnie played well into the fourth quarter on Thursday. And they played well.

Carrington dropped Deuce McBride with a crossover into a step-back three — his second of the night. He finished with 11 points on 3-for-6 FG.

“Bub’s got the ability to make shots off the dribble and off the catch. He’s got a unique scoring ability from the three,” Keefe said. “He gave us a little bit of a burst when our offense was getting a little stagnant, which can happen early in preseason games.”

Champagnie did typical Champagnie things, particularly on defense. The 6-foot-6 forward paid homage to Jose Alvarado by stealing an inbounds pass and laying it up to quickly turn one basket into two. He added another steal when he jumped the passing lane before slamming it home in transition.

Champagnie’s best play of the night was when he came from the help side to meet James Wiseman at the rim before drilling a transition triple on the ensuing possession. He finished with 12 points (3-5 FG, 5-6 FT), two blocks and two steals.

“Justin can play with almost any lineup because of the intangible things that he does,” Keefe said. “You see the offensive rebounding. We all know the cutting and then the hustle plays he makes. He had that huge block at the rim on a help, which was great. Then he hits a three on the next possession … That’s what he does. He does winning stuff.”

Like the Brooklyn Nets, whose preseason tipped off on Tuesday, the Long Island Nets’ roster is filling up ahead of training camp later this month; and also like the big club, Long Island’s frontcourt includes something the organization values in its development: positional size

“I do think positional size is a factor we look at,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said at Media Day. “Sometimes size can make up for some other deficiencies.”

That “factor” has quietly become just as big on Long Island’s roster as it is on Brooklyn’s. As the team finalized things over the last couple of weeks, there was an obvious premium placed on size across the board and not just height.

Two-way players Grant Nelson, Chaney Johnson, and Tyler Bilodeau are examples, along with new Exhibit 10 pieces, Dain Dainja and Ben Humrichous, as well as G League signee Nick Pringle. Long Island also recently traded for Jonathan Pierre, a 6’9” 23-year-old forward, although he plays more of a wing role.

Each check in as big for their position and big in general. Pierre, Bilodeau and Humrichous are 6’9” wings while Dainja and Pringle are also 6’9” who also bring physicality, particularly Dainja who checks in at 255 pounds with a 7’7” wingspan. Johnson can and has played small ball center at 6’7”.

While the Nets still feature the youngest roster in the NBA this season along with the most players on rookie deals, Long Island is becoming its own pipeline to Barclays Center as the Nets have proved in the past several years. They regularly shuttle young players along the 22 miles from Barclays to Nassau Coliseum and back, taking advantage of G League rules permitting the three two-ways to be active for up to 50 NBA games and up to two roster players to get minutes with no restrictions. It’s not uncommon for players to get call-ups. Last season, 11 Nets split time between with the two venues.

What’s interesting beyond their size is that all of those names add something unique. Among Long Island’s front court chips this season, Brooklyn fans are most familiar with Johnson and Nelson. They’re also the most likely to see time in Brooklyn, maybe at some point getting converted to a standard deal.

Chaney Johnson

Johnson has already shown encouraging production against NBA competition. In 17 appearances with Brooklyn last year, after signing a two-way contract on December 26, he averaged 8.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.1 assists while posting a 63.5% true shooting rate. He also collected 33 offensive rebounds, accounting for roughly 42% of his total boards last season. That’s an interesting, valuable role for a scrappy player. There is always room in an NBA rotation, especially the Nets’, for efficient offensive rebounding.

After he posted nine points vs. the 76ers Thursday to go along with four rebounds, two blocks and two steals, Egor Demin, predicted he’ll ultimately get a standard deal…

Jordi Fernandez agreed to a point.

“He worked really hard this summer, he had a very good summer league, and he’s also had a very good camp. You see his intensity and physicality, and it’s something that we need,“ said the head coach after Thursday’s game.

C.J. still has areas to clean up. He has room to grow as a shooter beyond the arc, as he shot just 30% from deep on 30 attempts last season while committing 51 fouls in around 348 total minutes. Johnson will always be an aggressive player, and that is one of his calling cards, but adding more discipline will make the transition Demin predicts more likely.

Grant Nelson

After going undrafted last year, in part because of a balky knee, Nelson wound up with an Exhibit 10 last year, averaging 11.1 points and 6.0 rebounds in 19.3 minutes across 23 G League games. He also shot 54.9% from the field and 80.9% from the free-throw line. Overall, the Alabama product played in a limited role as he dealt with a patella tendinitis that had plagued him throughout his college career. Across 15 starts in the G League, though, he averaged 24 points and 12 rebounds per 36 minutes, adding even more intrigue. That came after a seven-week rehab program with LI’s player performance team.

Nelson’s strong showings in the G League earned him a 10-day contract with Brooklyn. Across four games on the deal, Nelson played 35 minutes, putting up 17 points, six rebounds, six assists, and three blocks. Shortly after the Nets didn’t renew him for a second 10-day contract, as expected, it was revealed that he suffered patellar tendinitis, commonly known as “jumper’s knee,” which ended his season. At Media Day, Nelson said that with the help of the Nets performance team, he’s completely healthy and in Brooklyn’s two preseason games, he’s impressed off the bench.

In Brooklyn’s preseason opener Tuesday night, he scored five points in six minutes, along with a rebound and an assist, while shooting 2-of-4 from the field and 1-of-2 from beyond the arc. Then, Thursday, Jordi Fernandez doubled his minutes and he came away with eight points on 3-o-4 shooting, missing his only three, but getting to the line five times in eight minutes.

Ultimately, the 24-year-old is an interesting piece. The Nets were intrigued enough to give him a summer rehab plan and bring him back on a two-way deal.

Tyler Bilodeau

The new face on a two-way deal with Brooklyn this year is their second-round pick from June, Bilodeau. In the second round, teams often look for players who excel in a select area, and Bilodeau is just that when it comes to 3-point shooting. In his final year at UCLA, the 22-year-old averaged 17.6 points and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 51.8% and a Big Ten-leading 46.4% from three.

His biggest concern, though, is on the defensive end of the floor which is likely to be his development priority. However, his shooting ability is fascinating, and he has the potential to develop into a serviceable defender at 6’9” and 228 pounds and a wide frame. Developing in the G League instead of sitting on Brooklyn’s bench should be valuable and help him grow

While his missed his two attempts beyond the arc vs. Philly, the UCLA product grabbed five boards in 12 minutes, matching his point output.

Dain Dainja

Some of Brooklyn’s Exhibit 10 signees also have unique aspects to their game. Atop that list is Dainja. At 6’9” and 255 pounds with a crazy 7’7” wingspan, he’s physically imposing. Dainja spent the 2025-26 season with the Miami Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce. In Sioux Falls, he put up 13.1 points on 62.3% shooting, 5.9 rebounds, and one block across 36 appearances. His scoring efficiency really sticks out, aside from his wingspan, and if he can develop into an offensive hub for Long Island while complementing the scoring with screening and defense, he could certainly make some noise this season.

Nick Pringle

Pringle is another physical option. The 24-year-old stands at 6’10” and 230 pounds after signing with the organization on an Exhibit 10, although unlike Dainja and Humrichous, his deal does not feature a training camp invite.

Across his six-year college career, including stops at Wofford College, Alabama, South Carolina, and Arkansas, he shot 64.9% from the field in 152 games while tallying 654 rebounds and 125 combined steals and blocks. He was also part of Alabama’s 2024 Final Four team, averaging 6.2 rebounds during the NCAA Tournament that year. Pringle also overlapped with Nelson in Tuscaloosa when the Crimson Tide got to the Final Four in 2024.

Ben Humrichous

Humrichous is a very different player, and like Bilodeau, he was a heavy 3-point shooter in college. At Illinois last season, he made 57 of 158 attempts from beyond the arc, for a 36.1% clip. Around 86% of his overall field goal attempts came from deep, which is ridiculously high. The biggest question with Humrichous, who is 6’9” and 224 pounds, is where he can contribute when his shot isn’t falling, or when opposing defenses eliminate him from 3.

Jonathan Pierre

Lastly and perhaps the most interesting front court adds, there’s Jonathan Pierre. The organization liked his potential enough to trade for his rights earlier this month. He is another player who fits the mold of “positional size,” at 6’9” and 210 pounds. Pierre took a very interesting journey to the G League. He began high school as a 5’10” guard before hitting a growth spurt up to 6’7” and entering college as a forward at Nova Southeastern, where he helped the program go undefeated and win a Division II National Championship.

After an excellent first season in DII, he transferred to Memphis before breaking out at Belmont during the 2024-25 season. At Belmont, he averaged 13.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists. Belmont also listed him at his current height, 6’9”, after he was dubbed 6’7” earlier in his college career, suggesting Pierre grew further in college.

He ultimately went undrafted, although Jam Hines of No Ceilings NBA viewed him as a “definite” top-60 prospect for the 2025 draft class. Hines noted that Pierre ranked in the 87th percentile in scoring efficiency as a pick-and-roll ball handler while making 37.8% of his catch-and-shoot threes on 156 attempts. He was also 46.2% on three-point attempts as a screener, though on a 13-attempt sample.

Pierre’s first year in the G League was nothing extraordinary, as he averaged 5.8 points and 2.9 rebounds in 14.9 minutes across 34 total games. Still, his upside is certainly enticing. The Belmont product is also still just 23, making him Long Island’s second-youngest player behind only Bilodeau, who is a second-round rookie.

————————————————-

All of front court adds have something to prove, and different goals to reach this season. It will take a while to figure things out. That process starts the end of the month when the team gathers for training camp, then Opening Night on November 6 in Greensboro, N.C., vs. the Swarm, the Hornets affiliate.

There is no doubt that Donovan Mitchell is amongst the handful of the NBA’s best players. He can score in waves, at all three levels, and put the team on his back when it matters most. His superstardom is what drives the Cleveland Cavaliers’ relentless organizational pursuit of a championship. They have pushed all of their chips in, a few times over now, to put themselves in the best possible position to win right now.

We know Mitchell, assuming he remains healthy, will be a dominant force in the regular season. His four years in the Wine and Gold have been superb, with four trips to the All-Star Game and three All-NBA nominations.

But as great as he is, there is one more evolution for Mitchell — to be the best player on a championship team.

It may not have felt like it last season, but the Cavs were four wins away from the NBA Finals. They blew Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals in historic fashion, a blame that Mitchell puts on himself. A better version of Mitchell doesn’t allow Cleveland to wither on the vine the way they did. The long and short of Mitchell this upcoming season is how he plays in the postseason, on the biggest stage, against the greatest stars — and he will have the opportunity to showcase it.

Mitchell will get a full season next to James Harden, who takes the pressure off in a way that Darius Garland never really did. Harden’s impact on Jarrett Allen has already been discussed, but his ability to take pressure off of Mitchell as a scorer and facilitator should be better than it was last year. That relationship goes both ways, as Mitchell’s ability as a passer is paramount to making the Cavs’ offense as lethal as possible. There are plenty of shooters around him, and therefore assists abound.

No matter what, Mitchell will get his stats. He averaged 27.9 points per game last season on 48.3% shooting, while hitting 36.4% of his threes. His efficiency as a member of the Cavaliers has always been solid, and that should continue even in his age-30 season.

The elephant in the room is the playoff performances, and that goes for the Cavs as a whole. Mitchell’s numbers take a hit when the lights are the brightest, particularly his shooting efficiency and turnover rate. There is a passivity to his game that escapes onto the court, something that has perplexed the fan base.

Going back to that collapse in Game 1 of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, Mitchell only attempted six shots in the fourth quarter and overtime — making just one of them. That made shot came with over eight minutes left in the final frame.

There should be plenty of confidence that Mitchell will have a great regular season, an All-Star caliber effort that reminds people why he is one of the league’s best. But his judgment will be made in the playoffs, for better or worse. That is what comes with being a great player, and it is up to Mitchell to change the narrative of not only himself, but this franchise as a whole.

No pressure, right?

CLEVELAND — Celtics assistant coach DJ MacLeay typically stands on the sidelines and barks out commands. MacLeay, who began as a player-enhancement coach with the Celtics in 2021, leads the team’s defense and is often one of the loudest voices during games.

But on Thursday night, for the first time in his career, he served as the Celtics’ head coach — at least for the second half.

Joe Mazzulla revealed at shootaround that he wouldn’t be coaching the Celtics’ preseason opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Instead, assistant coach Tony Dobbins would coach the first half (and handle pregame media responsibilities), and MacLeay would coach the second half (and handle postgame media responsibilities).

“It was definitely different,” MacLeay said. “I got to be the head coach of the Boston Celtics for a half. Can’t feel anything but gratitude for that.”

Mazzulla decided both coaches would get the opportunity after they went through head-coaching interviews this past summer, Dobbins with the Dallas Mavericks and MacLeay with the Portland Trail Blazers. Neither got the job — Dobbins was a finalist — but Mazzulla wanted to acknowledge their progress by giving them additional preseason responsibilities.

“To me that’s a huge testament to them and the work that they do,” Mazzulla said. “And so, you’re just always looking for opportunities to give them more experience. And sometimes, the only experience is being out there on the sideline.”

The Celtics head coach wanted to give his assistants time to mentally prepare, so he gave them a heads-up.

“In classic Joe fashion, he told us this way back in the summer, so I’ve had some time to think about this,” MacLeay said.

For MacLeay, serving as a head coach for a half gave him the opportunity to hone in on the key messages the team has been emphasizing throughout training camp.

“The biggest thing is working on the stuff that we’ve been trying to build — connection with the group, connection to how we want to play, understanding different turning points, different moments within the game, and I thought for the most part the guys really were intentional about that,” MacLeay said.

In addition to running the Celtics’ defense, MacLeay serves as Luka Garza’s player development coach. Garza excelled in Thursday’s game, finishing with 22 points and 10 rebounds, both game-highs.

Afterward, he shared that getting to play for MacLeay formally made the outing even more meaningful.

“It was special, man,” Garza said. “He’s a guy that I just love working with, man. Every day, coming into the gym and working with him, whether it’s film or just the PD or whatever it is, he just brings such a great energy to the game, and I feel like we just have like mindsets in a lot of ways.

MacLeay knows he eventually wants to serve as a head coach, and he’s grateful that both the offseason interview process and the preseason game gave him a chance to prepare for the ultimate goal.

“All these experiences just open your eyes to all the different things that a head coach deals with, right?” MacLeay said. “There were things about that [interview] process that I could have done better, but I wouldn’t have known, having not gone through it before. And so, just like tonight, there were plenty of things that I screwed up, and I could have been better for the guys. And so, ultimately, just trying to be in a space where you take these experiences, you learn from them, you try to get better from them, you try to be better for the people around you, and serve the players as best you can. And you just try to take that mindset, the gratitude for this opportunity, for that opportunity with the interview, and just keep moving forward.”

As for Thursday’s game?

MacLeay smiled when asked what he felt he could have done better, and pointed to his after-timeout play calling.

“I drew way too many long ATOs,” MacLeay said. “I could have been better about that. My first time on the board in a long time — so just could have been better with that.”

The players, for one, could see their assistant coaches’ dreams ultimately coming to fruition.

“It was cool to see him get that opportunity, and he was obviously awesome in that role,” Garza said of MacLeay. “And that’s definitely in his future.”