Meet Baltimore Wizards draft pick Bub Carrington

About an hour before the draft, a surprise deal came: 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 on 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 country 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, tall, promising piece for what is expected to be a lengthy rebuild. Carrington, meanwhile, will begin his NBA career 40 miles from where he was born and raised.

“To be honest, I haven’t seen it this “coming soon,” Carrington said in a conference call with reporters late Wednesday night. “They let it be known that they were interested in me, so it wasn’t a surprise that they chose me. But it’s still a surreal feeling.”

The Wizards added three players in the first round on Wednesday, each 20 or younger. With the second overall selection, they selected Alex Sarr, a 7-foot center from France with defensive upside. By late evening, they traded from No. 26 to No. 24 and selected 6-7 guard Kyshawn George from the University of Miami. They dealt the No. 51 pick in that trade and then made no selections on Thursday when the draft ended with the second round.

“We’ve done a number of things to add three different players to our roster who are all young, all athletic, all play on both sides and all want to be here in D.C. to continue what we have, and there are we’re excited about,” said General Manager Will Dawkins, who oversaw his second draft since taking over the Wizards last year.

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

He has deep ties 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, for whose AAU team Carrington once played.

“I feel like it’s shaped me as an elite competitor,” Carrington said of growing up in Baltimore. “(It’s) such a basketball-dominant city. There’s a lot of people playing the same position as you. A lot of people trying to do the same thing as you. So I feel like to kind of separate yourself or keep up, you have to be the ultimate competitor. Coming from there, I’ve become 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 interview Thursday.

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

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

Dawkins said he also got to know Carrington as a person during the pre-draft process. Over lunch they shared their love of football — Carrington is a fan of the Baltimore Ravens, Dawkins is a fan of the Buffalo Bills. It was also a chance for Dawkins to ensure Carrington could handle the unusual pressure of playing close to home.

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

Carrington, who turns 19 in July, was the sixth-youngest prospect in the 2024 draft class. As he makes the transition to the NBA, he said he’ll have to adjust to a new level of physicality and improve his defensive intensity. But his high school coach said Carrington got an early head start on honing those traits.

“Baltimore is known for a few different things: toughness, versatility, (playing) hard and hard-nosed,” Myles said. “That, along with a lot of other things, is part of Bub’s game. But coming from Baltimore, you just play with a certain sharpness.”