Quarters might get a little tight on the other end of the court, where Sarr has shot just 31.4% from 3-point range over his first two pro seasons and we’ve got more than enough evidence now that Davis won’t space the floor; his jumper has all but deserted him since the bubble, when its appearance made him look like the best player on the planet for a second there. AD’s still an efficient scorer, though, averaging more than 20 points on 50% shooting during his curtailed minutes this season in Dallas, and Sarr has taken a significant step forward on that end in his second season, improving his finishing in the paint and above the break while also both getting to the free-throw line and making his freebies more often.

You can envision Young-Davis and Young-Sarr pick-and-rolls providing a fruitful basis for consistent offense, with Trae using his gifts for getting into the paint, winning the cat-and-mouse game with a retreating big in drop coverage, and threatening a floater to open up lobs and pocket passes to teammates rolling off the screen or lurking in the dunker spot, or sprays out to waiting shooters like George (42% on catch-and-shoot 3s this season), Bub Carrington (40.8% from deep off the catch) and rookie marksman Tre Johnson (37.5% on catch-and-shoot looks).

That’s all dependent, of course, on Davis actually staying on the court — something he hasn’t been able to do all that consistently for the last half-decade — and Keefe and his coaching staff being able to find the right balance to get the most out of the incoming vets without stalling the development of Washington’s young core. If they can do that, though — and if you squint pretty hard — you can see a team that’s got a chance at being significantly more consistent and competitive on a nightly basis next year than it’s been in a decade.

The question, of course, is whether “being roughly half-decent” is enough juice for the squeeze here. Five picks, salary relief and a scratch-off ticket in the super-athletic Johnson isn’t quite as paltry a price as the CJ McCollum-Corey Kispert package that landed Young. It’s also not all that much in the scheme of things for a Wizards team that didn’t need to include any of its top prospects — Sarr, George, Johnson, Coulibaly, Carrington, Will Riley — and that still controls eight first-round picks and 13 second-rounders in the next seven drafts.

That includes all of the Wizards’ own first-round picks besides this year’s, which is slated to go to the New York Knicks if it doesn’t fall within the top eight of the draft lottery. (If it doesn’t convey this season, the Knicks will wind up with Washington’s 2026 and 2027 second-round picks instead.) The Wizards enter Wednesday’s action at 13-36, tied for the NBA’s fourth-worst record, giving them a 99.3% odds of keeping that pick, according to Tankathon.

Here’s where we’ll note that Young, who’d averaged more than 20 points and 10 assists in 28 minutes per game in a five-game stretch before the Hawks traded him to D.C., has yet to suit up for the Wizards as he works through quad and knee injuries, and that Davis hasn’t played since Jan. 8 after suffering ligament damage in his left hand.

Given the importance of hanging on to that mid-to-high lottery pick in what’s reportedly one of the most talent-rich draft classes in recent memory, it seems reasonable to wonder whether either of the Wizards’ new “distressed asset” All-Stars will play much, or at all, for the balance of this season. What comes after this season, though, ought to prove interesting.

Davis, who turns 33 next month and has played more than 56 games just once since winning the 2020 NBA championship in the bubble with the Lakers six years ago, is set to make $58.5 million next season, holds a $62.8 million player option for 2027-28, and is eligible for a contract extension this summer. Young, 27, holds a $49 million player option for next season, and is reportedly open to an extension of his own.

What sort of dollar figures — and, perhaps even more crucially, what sort of years — the two incoming stars work out with Wizards president Michael Winger and general manager Will Dawkins will go a long way toward determining whether we wind up viewing these trades as low-cost, opportunistic additions capable of putting Washington on a path toward legitimate, sustained success … or, potentially, as just the next round of millstones dragging down the Wizards’ balance sheet, hopes and vibes. (Something the Mavs have learned a little bit about over the past year.)