Davis, Young Flip the Script on Charlotte in NBA Cup Opener

Washington trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half before Anthony Davis and Trae Young dismantled Charlotte's lead piece by piece, finishing a 95-79 Emirates NBA Cup win. Davis posted 25 points and 13 rebounds; Young added 21 points, 9 assists, and the connective tissue that made Washington's comeback possible.

Charlotte looked like the sharper team early. Dennis Schroder opened the scoring with a 24-foot fadeaway, and the Hornets kept pushing — Royce O'Neale drained back-to-back threes in the final four minutes of the first quarter to stretch the lead to 22-12, and Charlotte carried a 26-22 advantage into the second. Washington's offense was disjointed, and the Hornets' ball movement was crisp. That 10-point cushion felt real.

Then Washington started chipping. Trae Young opened the second quarter with a 26-foot three, and suddenly it was a one-possession game. The lead kept trading hands — Charlotte pushed back to 38-35 on a Moussa Diabate running dunk, but Young answered with back-to-back assists to Anthony Davis, the second a 1-foot bucket that gave Washington its first lead at 39-38. That sequence looks like the moment the game turned. Davis was relentless in the paint, and Young — who finished with 9 assists — kept finding him in exactly the right spots. AJ Dybantsa, the 2026 No. 1 overall pick still finding his footing after missing time with an ankle injury, chipped in 17 points and 8 rebounds in what appears to be a promising early showing.

Charlotte made one last push. With Washington's win probability sitting at 70%, Sion James drained a 23-foot three-pointer — assisted by Naz Reid — and the home win probability dropped to 60%, a 9-point swing that briefly made things interesting. But the Hornets couldn't sustain it. Brandon Miller led Charlotte with 19 points and 7 rebounds, and Reid — who was benched at halftime just two days earlier for not meeting the team's standards — finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds, including 3 steals. That's a bounce-back performance on paper, though whether it signals a reset or just a one-night reprieve is worth watching. Washington closed the game out at 95-79, with Kyshawn George adding 12 points off the bench to round out a balanced Wizards effort. This was an NBA Cup game that started as Charlotte's to lose — and Washington made sure they did exactly that.