The Washington Wizards finished with one of the NBA’s worst records. In the season’s final month, it looked like they also found one of the NBA’s best rookies.

Woeful Wizards found a keeper in Bub Carrington

Washington Wizards guard Bub Carrington. Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images

Carrington ended his rookie season with a wild game-winner over the Miami Heat to give the Wizards a 119-118 win. They finished the season 18-64, second-worst in the NBA, but the 19-year-old Carrington should give the Wizards hope going forward.

The No. 14 pick in last year’s draft, Carrington was one of only 11 players to suit up for all 82 regular-season games and the only rookie.

He was the second-youngest among all players who played at least 20 games, as he’s three weeks older than fellow lottery pick Tidjane Salaun of the Charlotte Hornets.

Woeful Wizards found a keeper in Bub Carrington | Yardbarker

That makes Carrington’s performance in April more impressive. Though for the season he averaged 9.8 points and 4.4 assists while shooting 33.9% on three-pointers, he averaged 17.6 points and 7.1 assists in April, making 39.3% of his threes.

While seven games is a small sample size, Carrington also shot 40% from deep in February.

Carrington proved in college that he can be an impressive shot-maker, as his game-winner against Miami exemplified. He showed off some excellent dribble moves, like when he made Tyrese Haliburton fall down last week.

Not only is Carrington young for an NBA player, he’s still growing into his body. Carrington was only 5-foot-8 as a high school sophomore, grew to six feet before college and stood 6-foot-4 after his one year at Pitt. He’s very likely to add more strength, which will help him get more shots in the paint.

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Washington had two other very young rookies in No. 2 pick Alex Sarr, who turns 20 on April 26, and midseason acquisition AJ Johnson, who turned 20 on Dec. 1.

Both upped their production late, with Sarr averaging 15.6 points after the All-Star break and Johnson averaging 10.9 points in his last 10 games. Johnson, acquired in a trade for Kyle Kuzma, is like Carrington in that he needs to get stronger but showed flashes down the stretch.

It’s hard to be optimistic after an 18-win season, but the Wizards’ future looks quite hopeful with so many promising young players, which also includes 20-year-old Bilal Coulibaly and 21-year-old Kyshawn George.

Carrington may be the most exciting of the bunch and the key to the next era of Wizards basketball.