Wizards Notes: Durant, Wall, Gortat, Morris

The Wizards are still suffering the consequences of their decision to chase Kevin Durant when he was a free agent in 2016, writes Ashish Mathur of AmicoHoops. Washington elected to pass on a talented 2015 free agency market that included Al Horford, LaMarcus Aldridge, Marc Gasol, DeAndre Jordan, Paul Millsap and Khris Middleton because the team wanted to preserve cap room for a run at Durant.

The Wizards went a couple of steps further, hiring Durant’s former Oklahoma City coach, Scott Brooks, and bringing on David Adkins, part of the coaching staff on Durant’s high school team, as a player development assistant. Despite those moves, Durant, who grew up near Washington, never gave serious consideration to returning home and didn’t even meet with the Wizards.

There’s more Wizards news from today’s exit interviews:

• John Wall indicated that the front office needs to shake up the roster this summer, tweets Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. Wall, who clashed with center Marcin Gortat over social media comments earlier this season, said the team needs to find “athletic bigs” for next year. “We added some pieces to help us out at times … but at the same time front office people need to figure out what really fits with the team,” Wall added (Twitter link).
• Gortat, who is entering the final year of his contract, remains confident that he has “a lot in the tank.” (Twitter link). He said he hopes to get back to a more physical style next season and criticized small-ball lineups, which he called the “worst thing” in the NBA.
• Markieff Morris told reporters he underwent minor groin surgery last summer in addition to the sports hernia operation that was known about (Twitter link). Morris, who missed the start of the season because of the procedures, twice said the Wizards’ problems with consistency are linked to “immaturity.”
• Majority owner Ted Leonsis penned a thank you letter to Wizards fans on social media and praised the team for remaining competitive with Wall sidelined for half the season.