Nearly all the way through the Washington Wizards' most recent loss to the Detroit Pistons, a game that required 58 minutes before reaching a conclusion, it felt as if the hometown team was outrunning their eventual demise.

It turned out that their miracle supply was limited, as well as the amount of time they could collectively keep stride with Cade Cunningham en route to his career-high 52-point masterpiece. Trae Young finally looked like the $212 million man that Washington signed up for when it counted with a buzzer-beater to send the game to overtime, and AJ Dybantsa could follow him up with a game-tying prayer of his own to send it to double overtime, but Cunningham's Pistons still prevailed in D.C., 144-140.

Despite the loss, their sixth in a row in falling to 4-9, the Wizards were able to locate some positives. On some of the lessons, both for the players and the fraught fan base, that we can extract from their first thriller of the season.

Washington's Already Making Strides Toward Clutch-Time Comfortability

Even though, yet, statistical history will file this away as an 8/23 shooting endeavor for Young, but he'll still enjoy the SportsCenter shoutout for his double-pump buzzer-beater, a nice throwback moment to encapsulate the closest he's looked to his Atlanta Hawks peak. This'll mark the fourth-such shot he's nailed over nine seasons as a franchise scorer.

🚨 TRAE YOUNG OVER TWO DEFENDERS AT THE BUZZER TO FORCE OT pic.twitter.com/RHAPujrh9J

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 13, 2026

Regardless of his place alongside Anthony Davis atop the experience depth chart, as well as Alex Sarr on the evening of his own 30-point experience- the Wizards' third of the outing alongside his two regular All-Stars- it sounds as if there was little doubt as to who the team looked to entrust with the game on the line.

"Everyone in the huddle wanted me to get the ball," he told On SI after the game. "It was our first time being in this situation this year, we're learning, good thing we were able to play a couple overtimes and play in those type of situations."

Trae Young, like Wizards HC Keefe, is willing to use this as a learning experience on clutch-time execution despite the loss. He made it sound as if there was little confusion as to the on-ball hierarchy in the final seconds: “Everyone in the huddle wanted me to get the ball.” pic.twitter.com/jI9sSH6nnh

— All Wizards Talk (@AllWizardsTalk) November 13, 2026

He still found a way to squeeze his first quintessential highlight as a Wizard out of an otherwise-high-volume, low-efficiency outing, and the same could be said out of last-second hero Dybantsa. He was considerably less-effective than his lead guard, shooting 1/9 from the floor outside of that pivotal pull-up middy, but still earned good minutes during extra possessions of learning experience.

Alex Sarr Thrives Within his Still-Limited Role

No one Wizards' been dealt a tougher hand to start this season than Sarr. He's had to endure life as a member of the starting lineup's unpopular double-big combination straight off of breaking his foot over the summer, a feature of the offense that's sucked the floor-spacing from their attack despite Davis' individual scoring excellence, and one that's minimized him into corner-sitter without the proven jump shot to meaningfully stretch defenses from the paint.

His season scoring average of 9.5 points included just a few double-digit outputs, but nothing resembling his near-perfect shooting performance on 12/14 shots. That stat line includes four made threes off of kick-outs, with the seven-footer having compiled just one game with multiple long-range connections over the early regular season so far.

As he confirmed to On SI postgame, he's still playing out of that same relatively-minimized position within the greater scheme, though he's slowly proving that regardless of whether Young or Kyshawn George is initiating the offense, he's capable of getting his own once he can channel this level of aggression.

Wizards Killers Unite in Yet Another Wizards Nail-Biter

Most Wizards fans were introduced to Daniss Jenkins, a formerly-undrafted guard who passed through for colleges, last year when he scored a then-career-high 24 points in a win over the Wizards. Anyone who forgot about that buzzer-beater to send the game to overtime was swiftly reminded of his timely shooting and supplementary scoring aggression when he matched that outburst with 24 again over a remodeled Wizards team just three days before Washington's return home.

daniss jenkins game-tying 3; wizards vs pistons pic.twitter.com/xFF96xwj0W

— ◇ (@F0RGIAT0) November 11, 2025

Well, he kept on seeing whatever it is that he's liked about staring down the Wizards' defenders in the past, depositing 21 more in the double-overtime win. At least he didn't lead his squad in scoring again, though the home would likely trade that for a face full of Cunningham in a performance that offered shades of the Pistons star's 46-point triple-double from 2025.

By the time the game ended, though, it was clear that Cunningham was the new man for local fans to begin fearing. He carried the Pistons offense to keep stride with the Wizards' respectable offense, getting to the rim and slinging from his usually-spotty 3-point range at will. Even on a night in which Young approached 40, it was still abundantly-clear who won the battle between star point guards.