Second-year Wizards big man Alex Sarr, playing for France, enjoyed an impressive showing during a EuroBasket warm-up game against Montenegro, per Eurohoops. In an 81-75 victory, Sarr scored 19 points and pulled down four boards across 13:49 of action.
After being selected with the No. 2 pick in the 2024 draft, the 7-foot center made the All-Rookie First Team with Washington for 2024/25. In 67 healthy contests, he averaged 13.0 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 2.4 APG and 1.5 BPG.
Sarr’s Washington colleague Bilal Coulibaly chipped in another 10 points for the French team.
There’s more out of the Southeast Division:
- Reeling after a drama-filled 2024/25 season that saw the mandated exodus of All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler, the Heat are looking to return to contender status moving forward. In a new reader mailbag, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (subscriber link) suggests that the key to improving for Miami is trades, not free agency. Things have changed mightily since the summer of 2010, when president Pat Riley signed free agent future Hall of Famers LeBron James and Chris Bosh to form a superstar “Big Three” with incumbent guard Dwyane Wade. That team went to four Finals in four years, winning twice. Butler signed as a free agent, but was ultimately packaged into a sign-and-trade from Philadelphia. Now, the Heat are embracing the trade route. To wit, Miami managed to acquire guard Norman Powell from the Clippers as part of a multi-team exchange this offseason.
- What could have been a relative free agent frenzy for the Heat in the summer of 2026 has already been severely decimated thanks to several star contract extensions, observes Winderman in another piece (subscriber link). All-Stars like Paolo Banchero, Luka Doncic, Kevin Durant, De’Aaron Fox, Jalen Williams, and James Harden all have or are expected to have agreed to extensions with their current clubs, as have strong players like Chet Holmgren, Mikal Bridges and Bradley Beal. Harden and Beal do have player options for next season, so in theory they could become available. Dyson Daniels and Draymond Green are extension-eligible, but have to agree to new deals.
- In case you missed it, Hornets forward Grant Williams recently provided an update on his rehab from a host of season-ending knee issues suffered last November.