Patrick Ewing is going back to the bench, and he is doing it in the same city where he ended his playing career.
The Knicks and Georgetown legend has agreed to become an assistant coach with the Washington Wizards. Ewing spent seven years as the head coach at his alma mater Georgetown before leaving in 2023. He has been out of coaching since. Now he is jumping back in with a rebuilding NBA franchise that just quietly turned itself into a project worth watching.
This is a smart hire on multiple levels.
The Wizards drafted big man Alex Sarr in 2024. Sarr is a 7-footer with real defensive tools who needs an old-school NBA center to grind with him every day. Patrick Ewing is one of the ten greatest centers in league history. That is the mentorship pairing Washington just handed a lottery pick.
Ewing also brings gravitas to a Wizards franchise that has struggled to attract veteran leadership. Head coach Brian Keefe now has a former MVP finalist and Basketball Hall of Famer sitting three seats down from him. Players notice that. Free agents notice that.
The Georgetown chapter did not end the way Ewing wanted. He went 75-109 as the Hoyas head coach and got the program to one NCAA Tournament in seven seasons. The last few years were rough. Washington gives him a fresh start in a role where his weaknesses as a college recruiter and program builder are not part of the job description.
As an NBA assistant, Ewing has already had one stop. He spent 15 years as an assistant with the Wizards, Rockets, Magic, and Hornets before taking the Georgetown job. He knows the beats of NBA player development because he lived it.
Ewing’s return to Washington is a full circle moment. He played his final NBA season with the Wizards in 2001-02 and has always kept ties to the DC area. Now he gets to help develop the next generation of Wizards big men.
For Wizards fans still processing the John Wall-Bradley Beal era, this is a small but meaningful shot of relevance. Ewing brings a name. He brings a story. He brings the exact kind of teacher a young Wizards team needs.
Nobody thinks Washington is winning 50 games next year. That is not the point. The point is that when Alex Sarr wakes up tomorrow, Patrick Ewing is going to be at practice teaching him how to play post defense against LeBron James. That is a win.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
