NEW YORK — The Washington Wizards may be in a race toward the bottom of the NBA standings, but Johnny Davis is moving in the opposite direction.
He’s hurtling upward.
After a difficult, humbling start to his pro career, the rookie lottery pick continues to show signs of life.
His climb continued on Sunday, this time on one of basketball’s most hallowed stages, Madison Square Garden. With four starters out and the Wizards on the verge of elimination in the Eastern Conference Play-In race, Davis received his first regular-season start.
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“It was definitely electric,” Davis said, a smile on his face. “I loved being out there tonight.”
Whether he can become a valuable rotation piece remains to be seen. This is not the time to make wild pronouncements. But no one can deny that Davis’ play has vastly improved compared to his shaky, unsure beginnings during the NBA Summer League, the preseason and the early weeks of the regular season.
He looks confident now. He attacks the basket, sometimes with aggressive cuts. He competes on defense.
Davis scored 16 points and dished out three assists, new career highs, as the Wizards lost to the New York Knicks 118-109 in front of a sellout crowd.
Are those totals relatively modest numbers? Yes, they are.
Yet they’re also signs of progress, and the Wizards will take it wherever and whenever Davis provides it.
“I thought he played well,” coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. “I thought he was good defensively (and) made some plays late. Still, very aggressive. I think he’s trying to play the right way, and I give him a lot of credit. He’s showing more and more discipline with his game plan, his personnel (knowledge). So that’s a big step for him.”
The night felt even sweeter because of those who witnessed it firsthand. Davis’ girlfriend and their infant daughter made the drive up from Greater Washington and watched the game.
Speaking about his daughter, Davis quipped, “Hopefully, she wasn’t asleep most of the time,” smiling again. “She probably was, but that’s all good. It’s her first time in New York, too. So, I’m glad she could be here when I started (for the first time).”
Joking a bit and smiling also are signs of progress for the shooting guard. After his initial exhibition and regular-season games, Davis often looked uncomfortable, especially in front of the media, rarely smiling and definitely not telling jokes. Teammates say the 21-year-old has loosened up over the last month or two, talking more freely when he goes out to dinner with veteran players.
His first few months after the draft could not have been easy. Critics on social media loved to point out his flaws and noted how the Wizards sent him to their G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go, to gain playing time and adjust to a faster, more physical style.
Other Wizards players empathized with Davis’ difficulties.
“I’m certainly not in Johnny’s shoes, so I don’t know what kinds of pressures he’s feeling,” said Corey Kispert, who was the 15th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. “The only other difference, really, is that he was picked five picks higher than I was. I think a lot of it is just pressure on yourself, right? I mean, we all have the NBA app. We’re all checking games, watching games, seeing what other guys in your draft class do. Then the pressure starts to build when you think that way.
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“But I’m glad to see him kind of turning into himself, right? Hopefully, he takes the confidence that he’s getting and earned into the offseason with him and really makes some strides. It’s definitely not the time to rest.”
Actually, there is a more fundamental difference between Kispert and Davis than their draft slots. Kispert played four seasons of college ball. Davis, on the other hand, played just two seasons. That experience gap seems like a chasm.
Now in the final week of his second season, Kispert offers an example that Davis can follow in the offseason ahead. Kispert devoted last summer to improving his long-range shooting, and that work has paid off. Kispert scored a career-high 27 points in the Wizards’ loss Friday and then topped himself Sunday, with a 29-point performance. Kispert now ranks as one of the league’s most efficient 3-point shooters, having made 43 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc.
Unseld said Davis has a lot to work on.
“I think it’s important for him to continue to work on his shot and get his shot, especially the 3, consistently,” Unseld said. “I think moving him around in different areas, improving ball-screen reads and playing off pick-and-rolls is a big part. Catch-and-shoot stuff, I think, is important. Building up his body, continuing to mature in that way (is important). He’s still a very young player, so I think there’s a lot of growth potential with him.”
First things first, though.
Four regular-season games remain, and it appears likely that the Wizards will formally shut down Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma. In addition, it’s possible that Monté Morris and Kristaps Porziņģis might not play again this season, either.
Davis played 30 minutes Sunday, and he likely will have a heavy workload over the next week.
Older teammates are relishing his recent emergence. They know how difficult Davis’ transition has been. They understand the scrutiny Davis has endured.
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“He’s very mentally tough,” Anthony Gill said. “For him to be thrown into everything that he was thrown into in such a short time, it’s very tough for a young guy to adjust to that. He was a top pick. As soon as he gets picked that high and goes through a summer but then gets thrown into the G League — it’s a very humbling experience to have to go down there and kind of fight your way up just like everyone else. And he handled it unbelievably.”
On Sunday night, as teammates filtered out of the visitors’ locker room, Davis smiled again when asked what it felt like to have made his first regular-season start at Madison Square Garden.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Davis said. “I wish the outcome could have been different, but it was still very very exciting to be out there starting in my first game at MSG.”
(Top photo of Johnny Davis: Vincent Carchietta / USA Today)
