Washington Wizards guard Trae Young intends to sign a maximum contract extension to remain in the nation’s capital, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Monday.
The reported four-year, $212 million max contract comes days after Young declined his $48.97 million player option for the 2026-27 season.
Young’s cap hit will rise by roughly 5% in each season of his four-year, $212M contract extension with the Wizards, sources tell Bullets Forever. The contract culminates with a player option in Year 4.
ESPN reported that Young’s contract was “equal to the max he could’ve signed elsewhere,“ which signals Young had a solid free agent market that forced Washington’s front office to offer more money than some originally expected.
Young’s market changed following the league’s updated lottery rules, which brought other teams into the mix. The Wizards signed Young at a comparative league value, giving him the maximum amount opposing teams could’ve offered in free agency.
Washington could’ve offered Young an additional $75 million but signed him for one less year and significantly less money.
Young, 27, was acquired by Washington in a January trade that sent CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert to the Atlanta Hawks. The nine-year veteran averaged 15.2 points and 6.2 assists while shooting 59.5% from the field across five appearances with the Wizards last season.
Young missed 67 games due to several injuries, most notably a quad contusion and an MCL sprain that forced him to miss nearly two months following the trade. Back irritation and another quad contusion caused Young to miss the team’s final 15 contests.
The Oklahoma product was selected with the No. 5 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft and led the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021. His best season came in 2021-22 when he averaged 28.4 points and 9.7 assists en route to All-NBA Third Team honors.
Michael Winger revealed on the Ryen Russillo Show that Washington’s front office ranked Young as the top 2026 free agent. Rather than wait for Young to decline his player option and test free agency, the Wizards used their abundance of cap space to acquire him via trade.
Wizards general manager Will Dawkins applauded Young’s court vision and said the organization acquired him to serve as the team’s floor general. With an extension inked, Young’s role is now official as the team’s PG of the future.
“You just see the playmaking, the scoring, the presence that he has for naturally moving and sharing the ball,” Dawkins said in March.
The four-time All-Star guard has averaged at least 25 points and nine assists per game five times in his career. There have only been 16 such seasons in NBA history.
Young led the league in assists three times and is the league’s current active leader in assists per game. He ranks third all time in that category behind Magic Johnson and John Stockton.
Dawkins also praised Young’s desire to be in Washington — a feeling Young shared during a recent appearance on “The Pivot” podcast.
“I wanted to go [to Washington],” Young said. “It’s not like [Atlanta] just shipped me to Washington. Because that wasn’t the case.”
Young projects as Washington’s starting point guard alongside Anthony Davis and Alex Sarr. That leaves openings in the team’s starting unit for two of the following players: Kyshawn George, Bilal Coulibaly, Tre Johnson and whoever Washington selects with the No. 1 pick.
No matter the starting lineup, Young believes the Wizards are ready to ascend behind their young core and group of veterans poised for a better season.
“I know our team is gonna be ready,” Young said on The Pivot. “We have young guys who have been through the rebuilding stage. They went through a lot of losing the last few years, and they’re tired of losing. I want to be there with them when we’re winning.”
