Bub Carrington may be just 20 years old, but being a second-year player in the NBA has a few perks.

Threading passes past the reach of LeBron James? A year ago, that might have shaken Carrington, a teenager whose knees got a little wobbly around the stars. Now, he said, “It’s just a job — after you get into it every night, you get used to it.”

Young though he may be, Carrington is also charged with showing newcomers the ropes — newcomers like Julian Reese.

“Yeah, he’s my rook — I take care of my little guy,” Carrington said recently over the phone, walking to the team bus with Reese striding in earshot. “We went out shopping the other day, I made sure he had clothes. If he needs something to eat, I made sure he’s got it.”

In the background of the call, Reese — who is two years older than Carrington — shouted to be heard over Carrington’s laughter:

“Aw, hell nah!” Reese interjected. “Stop lying!”

The two Baltimore natives have known each other a long time — “basically another brother,” Carrington said — and have landed on the same NBA roster with the Washington Wizards. Along with Cam Whitmore, a 21-year-old from Odenton, the trio forms a Charm City contingent that has supported each other through the early stages of their pro careers.

For so long, Reese was the elder statesman to the other two, a highly rated prospect who went on to have a solid four-year career at the University of Maryland. Now a two-way contract player who splits his time between the NBA and the G League, Reese is suddenly the one learning the ropes from his two Maryland-born teammates.

While he doesn’t love being known as Carrington’s “rook,” he acknowledges that being with familiar faces has helped an awful lot.

“I mean it’s pretty cool, because even when we were growing up, we weren’t ever thinking something like this could happen,” Reese said. “It helps a lot to have an old friend with you.”

Reese and Carrington both played at Saint Frances Academy, but they didn’t overlap in their prep careers. They played in the same AAU program, and Carrington acknowledged looking up to both Reese and Whitmore, who were prep stars.

“They were always good when we were younger,” Carrington said. “I had a different path.”

The son of a well-known local basketball coach, Carrington ascended with less fanfare until he hit a growth spurt. His outstanding freshman season at Pitt (not a traditional basketball powerhouse) was a bit of a surprise, and he played well enough to merit a first-round selection by the Wizards in the 2024 draft. This season, he’s played a team-high 75 games while averaging 10.2 points and 4.6 assists per game.

The Wizards have been caught in a moment of transition to end this season. While they traded for established stars like Anthony Davis and Trae Young, these big acquisitions have hardly played due to injury. Washington, meanwhile, hovers near the bottom of the NBA standings.

Carrington is one of the core members still playing as the season winds down, hoping for a change in fortunes next fall: “We know how good we’re going to be — I wish we could fast forward to that, to be honest with you.”

Whitmore arrived last summer in a trade from Houston, but has not played since December with a shoulder injury (the Wizards declined to make him available for this story). But one of the highlights of an otherwise dim season has been Reese, who made the jump from nearby College Park and has shined when getting significant minutes.

According to Carrington, he had a role in Reese’s arrival.

The Wizards had a roster spot opening up and were considering their options. When the team was on a road trip in Atlanta, general manager Will Dawkins asked Carrington how well he knew Reese (who was playing with the Raptors’ G League affiliate) and if he thought he might be a fit on the team.

“I said, ‘Man, get him right now,’” Carrington said. “Literally, the next day we got him.”

In seven games, Reese has averaged a double-double (11.4 points, 11 rebounds per game). In his third game with the NBA team, Reese scored 18 points and grabbed 20 rebounds. Against the same Utah Jazz team a few weeks later, he had 26 points and 17 rebounds.

A bit of a tweener at 6-foot-9, Reese is still trying to prove he is worthy of a full-time roster spot in the NBA.

If Carrington has any hand in it, he’ll keep Reese in the running for a roster spot next year.

“We already kind of click well — I think it’s just the single fact, no one else on this team kind of knew Ju’s strengths like I did because I’ve seen it before,” he said of Reese. “He’s been showing that he’s a league big. He’s proof that it don’t matter how long you played in college. If you’re good at basketball, you prove it every night.”

The reality of the uphill climb hit Reese when he went undrafted last summer, which he called “frustrating,” but his runway with the Wizards — as well as encouragement from 10-time All-Star Davis on the sideline and in the locker room — has helped him see the path to a more consistent role at basketball’s highest level.

“It helps remind me that I belong in this league, and I’m grateful for the opportunity,” Reese said. “I see a bright future for this team. I see the way these guys talk, and I want to see where I fall in the picture.”

For Baltimoreans in the NBA, Reese is already in the picture. On a trip to New Orleans last month, Reese, Whitmore and Carrington got in a picture with Derik Queen — Reese’s teammate with the Terps who’s put together a promising rookie campaign. It was a remarkable gathering of some of the best basketball talent Baltimore has to offer, flowing through different paths to land at the NBA stage all at the same time.

“I give it to God, and I’m thankful to our parents for helping put us in this position,” Reese said. “It’s crazy to think about how we all got here.”