SEPTEMBER 9TH, 10:56pm: The signing is official, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (via Twitter).
SEPTEMBER 8TH, 11:27am: The Wizards have a non-guaranteed pact with Ish Smith for training camp, reports Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post (Twitter link). Castillo also confirms an earlier report from J. Michael of CSNWashington.com that Washington will bring Toure’ Murry to camp on a non-guaranteed contract, too. Smith and Murry have already put pen to paper, according to Castillo, though the team has yet to make a formal announcement.
Washington also agreed to a non-guaranteed camp deal with undrafted UNC-Asheville center Jaleel Roberts, as Shams Charania reported at that point for RealGM, though Castillo refers to Roberts as a “possibility” for the Wizards (Twitter links). In any case, Smith, Murry and Roberts all seem to face long odds to make Washington’s roster, which includes 15 others who have fully guaranteed contracts.
Smith finished last season with the Sixers, and on a roster painfully short on point guard options, the five-year veteran had the most productive stretch of his career, averaging 12.0 points, 6.1 assists and 2.8 turnovers in 27.1 minutes per game across 25 appearances. He expressed interest at season’s end in a return to Philadelphia, but his unrestricted free agency this summer has been surprisingly quiet, with a lack of reports about any teams in pursuit. It’s possible that he was waiting on the Sixers, whose flurry of activity over Labor Day weekend left them with no more wiggle room for their camp roster, though that’s just my speculation.
The Raymond Brothers client signed a fully guaranteed contract for the minimum salary with the Rockets last summer, but Houston waived him before the start of the regular season. The Thunder added him as their 16th man via the hardship provision in November and kept him over Sebastian Telfair when they trimmed back down to 15 players. Oklahoma City nonetheless traded him to the Pelicans at the deadline, and New Orleans immediately released him. That’s when the Sixers jumped into the picture, claiming him off waivers two days later.
Do you think Ish Smith deserves to stick with the Wizards? If so, which of their 15 fully guaranteed contracts should go? Leave a comment to tell us.
Man, I really like Ish. Teams could do a lot worse for 3rd PG. KD called him one of the quickest players in the league, also naming Russ and Wall in that convo
Yeah, that’s why it seems really surprising that he’s only getting a non-guaranteed deal here. Not sure why the interest in him was apparently so lacking.
Absolutely no room. Wiz need another big. Younger athletic type. Would love Ish in DC but we don’t have the room. Wiz already going to struggle enough without Pierce to bail them out. No room for “seeing how this works” situations. We need definite. 2 years in a row we should have been in the ECF. We need to show it this year.