Trae Young, Daniss Jenkins Ejected as Wizards Outlast Pistons 114-108 in OT

WASHINGTON

It took 23 minutes of Trae Young's first full preseason in a Wizards uniform for the October theater to find him. With about 8:18 left in the third quarter, Daniss Jenkins bumped him multiple times running the floor after a Ron Holland dunk, words were exchanged, and then the two started shoving. Teammates and officials pulled them apart. The referees assessed double technical fouls — and when Young and Jenkins kept jawing after the first set, a second set made the ejections automatic. Washington led 62-60 at the time. The Wizards went on to beat the Pistons 114-108 in overtime, but the scuffle was the story long before the final horn.

Let's be plain about what happened: this wasn't a basketball play gone wrong. Jenkins kept bumping Young as they came up the floor — the kind of contact that asks for an answer — and Young answered with words, then both answered with shoves. It took teammates from both sides to separate them, Ron Holland among them, and the game never really settled after that. Seven technical fouls in total: the Jenkins-Young double techs and ejections, a tangled-up Paul Reed and Kyshawn George drawing techs after an overly physical battle for the ball, and Holland picking up the final one late in the third. Ausar Thompson fouled out in the third quarter on six fouls. Reed, who started for the absent Jalen Duren, fouled out with 11:44 left in the fourth. Preseason basketball, supposedly.

The moment had one more beat worth noting. When the shoving started, Anthony Davis rushed in to back his new teammate. As reported by Heavy, citing the Detroit News, Davis told Jenkins: "I know that he's small, but that's my boy." It's the kind of line that plays great in October — the veteran has-been-there voice protecting the franchise point guard — and it landed exactly as intended. New team, same Anthony Davis.

Young's box score was as forgettable as the ejection was loud: 2 points on 1-of-4 shooting, 2 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 turnovers in 23 minutes. He hit his first and only field goal to open the third quarter, then was in the showers a few minutes later. That's the part Washington can't laugh off. The Wizards acquired the 28-year-old from Atlanta in January, he played only 15 games last season because of injuries, and this is supposed to be the year he puts his stamp on the franchise. Eight assists in 23 minutes say the playmaking is still there. Picking up a double-technical ejection in a preseason game says the composure still isn't, and the 13 technical fouls he piled up in 2024-25 say it's been a theme.

Jenkins, for his part, can take the afternoon. The 25-year-old guard — entering his third season in Detroit after blossoming into a key bench piece last year at 9.3 points and 3.9 assists in about 20 minutes a night — finished with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting (3-of-5 from deep), 4 assists and 1 turnover in 18 minutes. He started in place of Cade Cunningham and played like a guy who knows the Pistons have been in three altercations through two preseason games, per the Detroit News. That's a pattern, not an accident.

The actual basketball was fun before the fracas and loud after it. Washington opened 40-20 after the first quarter — 19 fastbreak points, Young and rookie AJ Dybantsa throwing endless lobs to Davis and Alex Sarr, and Tre Johnson catching fire with three triples to close the quarter. The Wizards led 56-50 at the half and 80-78 through three. Then the Pistons took a 94-87 lead with about five minutes left in the fourth, and coach Brian Keefe — playing it exactly the way October demands — rode the third-stringers: Will Riley, Justin Champagnie and Felix Okpara. Okpara hit a three and then put a Piston on a poster in back-to-back possessions, the Wizards forced overtime, and the extra period belonged to Washington, 114-108.

Dybantsa was the night's purest joy. The rookie put up 14 points and 7 rebounds in 23 minutes, but the line doesn't carry the highlight: a behind-the-back move through three Pistons defenders in transition for an and-1, plus lob dunks to Sarr that had the building up. He's playing like he knows he belongs. For a Wizards rebuild built around exactly this kind of upside, that's the takeaway that actually lasts into November.

Detroit's box score tells its own story about why the Pistons nearly stole it and why they didn't. They forced 27 Wizards turnovers, won the offensive glass 23-7 and the second-chance points 17-8 — all the ugly effort stats — and shot 36.8 percent from the field and 25 percent from three. You can't shoot 25 percent from deep and expect the third string to save you in overtime. Duncan Robinson (12 points, 4 assists) and Kevin Huerter (11) reached double figures, and the energy was real. The finishing was not.

So what's real here and what's October noise? The noise: a preseason ejection between a 28-year-old All-Star and a third-year bench guard, in a game that doesn't count. The real stuff: Young has to be available and composed for this Wizards season to mean anything — eight assists are nice, five turnovers and a double-tech ejection are the story the locker room hears. And Detroit's edge — three altercations in two games — is a feature until someone gets suspended for it. These two meet again for real on November 9. Circle it.

See more in our Saturday preseason wrap, Friday's daily roundup, the 2026-27 season preview, and our injury wire.