Tre Johnson isn’t here to put up points. That’s the easy part for the 20-year-old Wizards guard, who shot 39.5% from deep in November as a rookie and followed that with a 44.2% clip in December. The hard part is everything else, specifically the defensive end where he finished in the fifth percentile in crafted defensive plus/minus last season, per CraftedNBA.
Johnson is the first to admit it.
“Being intentional with my defense,” he told ClutchPoints on Tuesday when asked what he wants to work on most in Summer League. “I feel like that’s an area that I can always bump up. Try to get my defense at the same level as my offense. That’s a key area I’m working on.”
The 6-foot-5, 190-pound guard got labeled a “hidden” defender by the advanced stats, meaning he was assigned the weakest offensive player on the floor. That’s not exactly a badge of honor. He knows physical strength and on-ball pressure are the two specific things he needs to improve. And with Trae Young in the backcourt — a player who’s third-worst in the league with a -2.9 defensive crafted plus/minus — the Wizards can’t afford another liability on that end.
Young isn’t going anywhere. Washington just handed him a four-year, $212 million max deal this offseason. So it’s on everyone else to pick up the slack, similar to how the Knicks built a defense-first roster around Jalen Brunson.
Johnson’s frame gives him a chance. He’s not small for a guard, and the rest of Washington’s young core is built similarly. Bub Carrington is 6-foot-4. Will Riley is 6-foot-9 but only 180 pounds. AJ Dybantsa is 6-foot-9 and admitted to ClutchPoints before the draft that his off-ball defense at BYU wasn’t where it needed to be. None of these guys are locked-in stoppers yet. But they’re all saying the right things.
Riley, the 2025 Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year, finished 11th-worst in defensive plus/minus last season. But he’s also never satisfied with where he is physically.
“Nah, I’m never happy where I’m at,” he told ClutchPoints on Tuesday. “But I’m striving to be better. I’m in a good place.”
Riley can look at teammate Kyshawn George for inspiration. George clearly added muscle this offseason after finishing third on the Wizards with 1.9 stocks per game last season. If Riley can pull off a similar transformation without losing his agility, he might actually hold his ground against NBA forwards.
There’s a roster logjam in Washington. Assuming Anthony Davis, Alex Sarr, and Dybantsa slot in around Young, the rest of the rotation minutes will be a fight between Johnson, Riley, Carrington, Bilal Coulibaly, Justin Champagnie, Cam Whitmore, and Deandre Ayton. Only so many spots. Summer League games don’t technically count for anything, but they’re auditions. And the guys who show out on both ends will have the best shot at cracking the rotation.
The Wizards open their five-game slate Thursday against Darryn Peterson and the Utah Jazz at 9:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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