LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 09: AJ Dybantsa #4 of the Washington Wizards gets ready to shoot a 3-pointer against the Utah Jazz in the second half of a 2026 NBA Summer League game at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 09, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) Getty
Bub Carrington may have said something the Washington Wizards would rather have kept behind closed doors. The 21-year-old guard openly admits that the Wizards were held back in order to land AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. The comments, made in an interview with WUSA9, are now spreading across the NBA world—and they arrive at an awkward time for a league that has been increasingly aggressive about tanking.
Carrington was discussing what needs to change for Washington to develop a winning culture when he initially said the young players simply had not been told to be the best versions of themselves. Asked to clarify, he went considerably further.
"We've all, in a way, been held back just because, as you said, we were trying to get AJ Dybantsa. That's no secret," Carrington said. He then added that "no one has handcuffs" anymore and that everyone is now "shackles free." The comments appear to be a remarkably candid description of Washington's approach to the 2025-26 season, although Carrington did not describe a specific instruction from an executive or coach to lose individual games.
That distinction matters. Tanking is generally understood as intentionally sacrificing short-term competitiveness for a better draft position, but Carrington's comments do not by themselves establish who made decisions or whether anyone specifically ordered players to lose.
GettyLAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JULY 09: AJ Dybantsa #4 of the Washington Wizards gets ready to shoot a 3-pointer against the Utah Jazz in the second half of a 2026 NBA Summer League game at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 09, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The timing makes the comments particularly striking. Washington finished 17-65 , the NBA's worst record, then won the draft lottery and selected Dybantsa first overall. This meant that Washington had the best possible lottery odds at 14%, tied with Brooklyn and Indiana, and ultimately landed the prize the franchise had spent the season positioning itself to obtain. The NBA's official lottery report noted that the Wizards had endured three consecutive losing seasons before finally winning the lottery.
That does not prove Carrington's comments describe an organizational mandate. But it certainly makes the admission more significant: the player is explicitly linking the team's approach to the pursuit of the player who now sits at the center of Washington's rebuild.
The NBA has made it clear that tanking is not something it intends to ignore. Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the issue repeatedly during the 2025-26 season after the league fined Utah and Indiana for improperly withholding players. Silver said in February that tanking had become an unusually prominent issue around the league.
The league has also been working on lottery reforms specifically designed to reduce incentives for teams to lose intentionally. Reuters reported that the NBA was moving toward a new lottery structure intended to curb tanking, including mechanisms that could allow the league to penalize perceived manipulation.
Whether Carrington's remarks are enough to trigger any formal review is unknown. The NBA has not announced an investigation, and there is no public evidence at this point that one has begun.
There is an irony to the timing. Washington spent three years near the bottom of the NBA standings, finally landed Dybantsa and then dramatically accelerated the rebuild by surrounding him with veterans including Trae Young, Anthony Davis, Deandre Ayton and Khris Middleton. The Washington Post recently detailed the franchise's effort to change its identity heading into the new season.
Carrington clearly believes that chapter is over. He said the team is now free to compete and talked about eventually building a playoff culture that lasts. That is exactly the message Washington wants heading into 2026-27. The problem is that his explanation of how the Wizards arrived at this point has suddenly made last season part of a much bigger conversation.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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