Wizards' Bub Carrington Joins Rising Stars Roster

The Washington Wizards announced that Alex Sarr, the best young player on the prospect-loaded young team, will be ruled out of All-Star Weekend festivities. That means he won't make it to the Rising Stars game alongside Kyshawn George and Tre Johnson; luckily, the Wizards had an easy replacement option waiting in the wings.

Enter Bub Carrington. His slow start to the season held him back from immediately joining Sarr for the second season in a row, but he was one of several last-minute replacements announced as fill-ins for the missing-in-action stars heading into the break.

Wizards guard Bub Carrington will replace fellow sophomore and teammate Alex Sarr on Team T-Mac in the 2026 Castrol Rising Stars.

Sarr is out with a hamstring strain.

Rising Stars: Friday, Feb. 13 | 9 PM ET | Peacock pic.twitter.com/VlbD2NrShD
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) February 12, 2026

This is pretty short notice for Carrington, with the tournament within which the rising stars are set to face off set to commence tomorrow, but it's nothing he hasn't seen before, He, along with Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly, made the trip to the distinctive weekend a season ago, and he's done enough to salvage his sophomore campaign to book a last-second return trip alongside the league's finest up-and-comers.

Carrington's Turnaround

It appeared as if there was no way for Carrington to effectively build off of last season's success entering last December; despite his second-to-none availability, he was averaging under 34% from the field and 6.6 points per game through his first 21 outings, looking like a shell of the confident guard who'd previously impressed Wizards fans as a rookie sniper.

Ever since he escaped that rut in earning another shot at cracking the starting five, though, his adept on-ball shotmaking has flourished. He effectively doubled his per-game 3-point shot attempts in jumping to 12.5 points per game over the past two and a half months, and it's helped that some of his looks from within the arc have started to fall. Even a shift to full-time sixth man hasn't slowed his momentum; he's regularly knocking down jumpers and feeding teammates, posting a shade under five assists per night since his bouncing back.

Washington Wizards Guard Bub Carrington — Jan 29, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards guard Bub Carrington (7) makes a pass during the second half against the Milwaukee Bucks at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images | Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

He'll make the trip alongside first-time Rising Stars George and Johnson in the coming day, with the trio making up the majority of Washington's young ball-handling room. Sarr's benefitted from their conjoined ascendance more than anyone, but he'll have to sit and watch as his fellow Wizards represent the squad in his place.

The center's been in-and-out of the Wizards' lineup for the better part of two weeks, missing out on three of the team's last six games, including their most recent loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He'll receive ample time to recover from his reported hamstring strain while the regular season briefly pauses, and Carrington will slide into Team T-Mac's roster alongside Johnson in Sarr's honor.

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