Baltimore native Bub Carrington was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers with the No. 14 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft and later traded to the Washington Wizards. While they aren’t his hometown team, the Wizards are as close as it gets.
Carrington grew up right up the parkway in Baltimore, where his basketball roots are strong. His father, also known as Bub, is a longtime AAU coach. Former NBA player Rudy Gay is a second cousin. Carmelo Anthony is a mentor.
Carrington was the No. 91-ranked high school prospect in the Class of 2023, according to 247Sports. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound guard chose to attend the University of Pittsburgh, where he averaged 13.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game as a freshman, unexpectedly lunging himself onto NBA draft boards.
Carrington is now showing what he’s all about in the NBA Summer League:
While Carrington leaned toward baseball throughout most of his childhood, his familiarity with basketball, which he started to pursue seriously in high school, pushed him down that path. He knew he had a future in basketball if he put in the work.
“When you’re [in your] junior [and] senior year of high school, and even in college, just having that mental discipline, knowing that every day counts, every day matters, so you’ve got to make the most of it,” he said on Glenn Clark Radio July 11. “During those times of my life, I continued to just kind of keep that tunnel vision, focus on the next day, the next drill, the next rep, whatever the case may be, and realize that that next level is a very real possibility. You’ve got to have a certain discipline for it, though.”
While Carrington’s training established a base, learning the game from those around him separated him from his peers.
“I think it’s helped me mentally,” Carrington said. “Just being around [former players like Gay and Anthony], obviously having conversations with those guys, they’re always constantly spilling knowledge, giving me little bits and pieces to be a better basketball player or a better man, whatever the case may be. I feel like it just kind of always put me on a different level mentally than most of my peers that maybe didn’t have those kinds of role models or figures in their life.”
It became apparent during Carrington’s senior season at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore that he was special. He led the team to a 29-11 record, averaging 26.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game and becoming the first Panther in nearly a decade to score more than 1,000 points in a single season.
He’s one of many St. Frances athletes to make it to the professional level this year. Angel Reese is in the midst of an impressive rookie season with the WNBA’s Chicago Sky, while Blake Corum and Chris Braswell are set to make their NFL debuts this fall.
Following his success at St. Frances, Carrington continued to shine at Pitt. As such, Washington targeted him as part of its rebuild. Carrington and fellow first-round picks Alex Sarr and Kyshawn George have already discussed what it will take to do so.
“It’s going to be a challenge. It’s going to be a fight,” Carrington said. “It’s something that all three of us talked about, we know it, and we’re just going to attack it [and] make the most of the opportunity.”
For more from Carrington, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Stephen Gosling/NBAE