Wizards Beat Hornets 95-79 as Davis Scores 25 in NBA Cup Opener

The Washington Wizards beat the Charlotte Hornets 95-79 at Capital One Arena on Friday night, opening NBA Cup group play with a defensive performance that held Charlotte to 79 points and 29.7 percent shooting.

Anthony Davis led Washington with 25 points and 13 rebounds. Trae Young added 21 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, doing much of his damage at the free throw line, where he went 12 of 14. AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft, scored 17 points in his NBA home debut, and Kyshawn George added 12 as Washington improved to 3-3.

The middle quarters decided it

Charlotte led early and held a 10 point lead in the first quarter, with Brandon Miller scoring 19 points to lead the Hornets for the fourth straight game. The game turned across the middle of the night. Washington outscored Charlotte 57-33 across the second and third quarters combined, and by late in the third the lead had grown to 79-54.

The free throw line told much of the story. Washington outscored Charlotte 29-7 at the line, led by Young and Davis, who went 9 of 10. Charlotte took 28 more shots than Washington but made only 30 of 101 from the field and 12 of 56 from three point range, numbers that no road team survives against a set defense.

Dybantsa sealed the result in the fourth quarter, pushing the margin back to 89-70 with a three point play with 5:58 to play. The win also avenged a Washington loss in Charlotte earlier in the week, and dropped the Hornets to 3-3 after back to back road defeats.

First night of the Cup

Friday was the first night of group play in this season's NBA Cup, the league's in-season tournament, now in its fourth edition, with 10 games on the schedule across the league. Washington takes the early edge in its group with the win and the 16 point margin, which matters under the Cup's tiebreak rules.

Charlotte does not wait long for a response. The Hornets host the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday, October 31. Washington stays home and faces the Orlando Magic on Sunday, November 1.

For a Wizards team built around a new core of Davis, Young and the top pick in the draft, the opener offered a simple proof of concept: defend for four quarters, get to the line, and let the rookie feed off both. One Cup game proves little across a long season, but the home crowd saw the shape of the team Washington says it is building.