{"id":201141,"date":"2026-06-18T15:27:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T19:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=201141"},"modified":"2026-06-18T15:27:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T19:27:16","slug":"washington-wizards-trae-young-re-sign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/06\/18\/washington-wizards-trae-young-re-sign\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Wizards All-Star Guard Expected To Re-Sign With Team After Declining Player Option"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Wizards have a new outlook on the future after altering their rebuild last season by trading for the former All-Stars<\/a> Trae Young<\/a> and Anthony Davis<\/a>. Since both have arrived in D.C, the stars seem to have differing opinions on their futures in the DMV. Davis has openly expressed uncertainty, with many now doubting he will even suit up for the Wizards next season.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Young has been hyping up Washington fans, trying to get both Davis and the league to understand his belief in the Wizards’ young core and front office. In that same breath, the Wizards believe Young can lead the team back to the postseason and a new competitive atmosphere. One thing limiting the franchise’s outlook, however, is Young’s contract. According to ESPN’s Marc Spears, Young will opt out of his player option for next season, but the sides remain interested in getting a new deal done.<\/p>\n

\n

Wizards star Trae Young plans to decline his $48.97 million player option for the 2026\u201327 season to become a FA on Monday, sources. Washington remains the front runner for the four-time NBA All-Star as he loves the team and DC, but he still expects multiple team max interest. pic.twitter.com\/a3ONGQgVJK<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) June 18, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Washington Wizards All-Star Guard Expected To Re-Sign With Team After Declining Player Option<\/h2>\n

This was an expected move by Young. When he was first traded to D.C, both Young and the Wizards’ front office<\/a> wanted to find a deal that worked for both sides, and it was expected that Young would remain in D.C, whether he opted in or out of his contract.<\/p>\n

However, now there is a real question that is out in the open. Will Young try to get a bigger cash number, or could we see the four-time All-Star take an approach similar to a new champion?<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

What Experts Are Saying<\/h3>\n

While Young’s contract was already a massive 48.97 million dollars, experts believe that he may be looking for a larger number headed into his first full season with the Wizards.<\/p>\n

According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst<\/a>, Young may talk with some other teams, but is widely expected to be heading back to the DMV. This is what Windhorst said on ESPN’s Get Up\u00a0<\/em>Wednesday morning:<\/p>\n

“When Trae Young was traded to Washington in January, it came with the understanding that he would opt out of his contract…The expectation is he may take a meeting or two for appearances’ sake. He’s going to resign with the Wizards, likely on a three-year, very large contract.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As mentioned, Young may be looking for a larger, player-friendly deal that would give the Wizards long-term security over their new face of the franchise. Even with the talent the eight-year pro has, is this the right move?<\/p>\n

While Young’s offensive talent is near limitless, the guard’s inability to stay healthy last season is something to note. He played 15 games total, and just five of them with Washington. In those contests, the guard’s play was elite for the limited action he participated in, averaging 15.2 points, 6.2 assists, and three rebounds, all while shooting career-best splits.<\/p>\n

So, injuries aside, Young is certainly worth the investment. Even with last season’s unfortunate injury bug, the 27-year-old has played at least 60 games in six of his eight seasons. However, with the rising injuries the roster is seeing<\/a>, it is certainly something the front office needs to consider moving forward.<\/p>\n

The Brunson Strategy<\/h3>\n

What Young and his camp should be considering is the contract strategy that New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson<\/a> used. The 2026 NBA champion took a $113 million pay cut to give the Knicks’ front office plenty of room to sign several role players and trade for others.<\/p>\n

While it doesn’t need to be this massive, Young taking a pay cut could provide Washington with cap space to do the same. The Wizards could look to add veterans to surround the young core with postseason experience to give Young a boost in clutch-time situations. Another benefit would be enticing Davis to stay in D.C., which should be everyone’s priority.<\/p>\n

Featured Image: Brad Mills-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Washington Wizards have a new outlook on the future after altering their rebuild last season by trading for the former All-Stars Trae Young and Anthony Davis. Since both have arrived in D.C, the stars seem to have differing opinions on their futures in the DMV. Davis has openly expressed uncertainty, with many now doubting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5480,"featured_media":201182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,18],"tags":[240,1417,1349],"class_list":["post-201141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-wizards","tag-anthony-davis","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-trae-young"],"modified_by":"Benjamin Yu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5480"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201141"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201183,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201141\/revisions\/201183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}