By Otto Von Sothen

“Alex Sarr 2024” by Hameltion is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Every NBA season, journalists, fans and players anticipate the end-of-season awards such as MVP, Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Every year though, one award often goes under the radar and is sometimes forgotten by fans: Most Improved Player. One reason for this is many fans believe the MIP has lost its significance over the years, awarding players that followed their logical trajectory and reaching the high ceiling that led them to become high lottery picks such as 2nd overall pick Ja Morant winning it in his third year rather than a role player blossoming into a star such as Pascal Siakam who won it in 2019. 

The current favorites to win the award this season are Portland Trail Blazers small forward Deni Avdija and Atlanta Hawks power forward Jalen Johnson. Both of them have been playing amazingly all season, stepping up as their team’s number one options and will both likely be selected as All Stars. However, I will be making the case for another player who I believe made a much better statistical jump and completely transformed their game. That player is Alex Sarr. 

Alex Sarr was selected 2nd overall in the 2024 NBA draft by the Washington Wizards. Sarr had a rocky start to his rookie year, but his numbers picked up in the second half of the season, ending at 13 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. Where Sarr stood out was on the defensive side, showcasing promising rim protection by racking up 1.5 blocks per game. 

The main knock on his season was his shooting splits. Sarr averaged 30.8% from 3, 67.9 from the line and most notably 39.4 from the field, which you do not want to see from a seven-footer. However, that did not stop him from making the NBA All-Rookie 1st team and imposing himself as one of the league’s future stretch fives, a coveted archetype in today’s NBA with the likes of Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama looking like the future faces of the league. 

The offseason goals were clear for Sarr: he needed to strengthen himself so that he could score more points in the post, and use his size and athleticism to dominate in the paint, adapting his shot diet which leaned on the 3 too much. 

Here we are now in the 2025 season, the Wizards’ goal has not changed, they are building around their young core and trying to get a high draft pick for the 2026 class which is advertised as one of the best in years. Many Wizards fans and NBA analysts expected Sarr to continue his progression. However, none imagined the leap he’s taking in year 2.   

As of today, Sarr improved in every statistical category. He’s averaging 19 points (+6), 8.3 rebounds (+2.8), 3.2 assists (+0.8), 1.9 blocks (+0.4) and 0.8 steals (+0.1). As for the shooting numbers, they improved more than the Wizards could dream for. He’s shooting 51% from the field and 35.7% from beyond the arc. Alex Sarr has transitioned his game, leaning more on the post rather than the 3. He’s prioritizing 2 pointers (7.3 last season to 11.9 this season) over 3 pointers (5.1 attempts to 3.3) this season. 

Here is his shooting chart for the 2024-25 season: 

And here is his shooting chart for the 2025-26 season: 

The key takeaways from this graphic are that Sarr got rid of the midrange (a proven inefficient shot that is disappearing in the NBA) and his 3-pointer volume has gone down. Most of his points are found at the rim. 

Sarr has already had a few signature performances this season. After scoring 31 points against the Philadelphia 76ers earlier this season, he joined Lebron James & Victor Wembanyama as the only players under 21 with 30+PTS, 10+REB, 5+AST, 2+STL, 2+BLK in a game. Great company, right?.

However, those numbers don’t tell the whole story. A few weeks ago I came across this graphic:

What this graphic shows us is Sarr is defending the Rim at an elite level against a very important volume of field goal attempts. This shows that Sarr, in a way, is a one-man army when it comes to rim protection. He doesn’t really receive any help from his teammates in that aspect, which makes sense when you look at the roster of the Washington Wizards. Their only other big man is Marvin Bagley. Sarr is overachieving, and the Wizards can’t rely on this indefinitely. Their goal next offseason should be getting him help in the frontcourt.  

We’re only scratching the ceiling of Sarr’s potential. He is only 20, and we’ve yet to see him with a great point guard that can run the pick and roll with him. If he doesn’t win this award this season, don’t be surprised if he wins it next year or brings back a DPOY award to the nation’s capital.