After trading down from No. 18 to No. 21, the Wizards have made Illinois guard/forward Will Riley their second pick of the night. Washington drafted Tre Johnson at No. 6.
The Big Ten’s Sixth Man of the Year as a freshman in 2024/25, Riley scored 12.6 points per game on .432/.326/.724 shooting while also contributing 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 25.7 minutes per contest.
Riley, a native of Kitchener, Ontario in Canada, has a relatively thin frame and “lacks a degree of burst and physicality,” writes Jonathan Givony of ESPN. However, he has good height (6’8″) for a wing and has shown legitimate potential as a scorer and play-maker.
Riley was selected one spot after his former Fighting Illini teammate Kasparas Jakucionis, who went to Miami at No. 20.
Washington was able to get assets in the deal with Utah and still land a player who is high on their draft board. Jake Fischer of The Stein Line hears there was “plenty of buzz” about the Wizards taking Riley at No. 18 if they had stayed there (Twitter link).
Washington is parting with small forward Saddiq Bey in a trade with New Orleans, and Khris Middleton isn’t guaranteed to stay on the roster after exercising his player option, which gives him a $33.3MM expiring contract. There could be a chance for Riley to earn regular minutes right away.
With two first-round picks tonight, plus three last year and a mid-season trade for AJ Johnson, Washington has put together a roster that’s very heavy on first- and second-year players. Although they were disappointed to fall to sixth in the lottery after an 18-64 season, the Wizards still wound up with a decent draft haul.
Back to back Illinois.
Who’s better between this guy & Kyshawn George? Hoop heads give me a good take on these similar guys that are now teammates competing for pt…
They’re both 6’8” switchable wings but George is more shooter and passer and Riley seems to be more of a cutter and energy guy. At least what I’ve seen from some analysis as a wizards fan.
Decent pick and needs a couple years to develop!
I don’t mind what Washington did. Yeah, he was projected to go lower, but it’s not like they took the guy at 6 who should have gone 15th. When you get to the 20s, the separation is not that clear.
If Coward didn’t rise that high on the boards, and was still there at 18 or 21 for Washington, he would be the pick. But NBA scouts are clever, and he went 11th. Provided who was out there, don’t mind this pick at all, just hoping they scouted him well.