Projected by most fans and experts to be a playoff team in 2018/19, the Wizards dropped 11 of their first 13 games and never recovered. Things went from bad to worse when John Wall suffered a season-ending heel injury, then later ruptured his Achilles tendon, putting his 2019/20 season in jeopardy — just as his super-max contract is set to begin. Ernie Grunfeld‘s replacement in the Wizards’ basketball operations department will inherit a challenging situation.
Here’s where things currently stand for the Wizards financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2019:
Guaranteed Salary
- John Wall ($38,150,000) 1
- Bradley Beal ($27,093,018)
- Ian Mahinmi ($15,450,051)
- Dwight Howard ($5,603,850): Exercised player option
- Troy Brown ($3,219,480)
- Total: $89,516,399
Player Options
- None
Team Options
- Jabari Parker ($20,000,000)
- Total: $20,000,000
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Jordan McRae ($1,645,357)
- Tarik Phillip ($1,416,852)
- Total: $3,062,209
Restricted Free Agents
- Sam Dekker ($3,916,575 qualifying offer / $8,280,285 cap hold): Bird rights
- Bobby Portis ($3,611,813 qualifying offer / $7,483,038 cap hold): Bird rights
- Tomas Satoransky ($3,911,484 qualifying offer / $5,945,455 cap hold): Bird rights
- Thomas Bryant ($3,021,354 qualifying offer / $3,021,354 cap hold): Early Bird rights
- Chasson Randle ($1,818,486 qualifying offer / $1,818,486 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
- Total: $9,429,180
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- Trevor Ariza ($18,000,000): Non-Bird rights
- No. 9 overall pick ($4,463,400)
- Jeff Green ($1,618,486): Non-Bird rights
- Ty Lawson ($1,618,486): Non-Bird rights 2
- Ramon Sessions ($1,618,486): Non-Bird rights 2
- Devin Robinson ($1,443,842): Early Bird rights
- Total: $26,868,528
Projected Salary Cap: $109,000,000
Projected Tax Line: $132,000,000
Offseason Cap Outlook
- Realistic cap room projection: $0
- Even if they’re only accounting for their five players on guaranteed salaries, cap holds for Satoransky and their first-round pick, and their mid-level exception, the Wizards will be an over-the-cap team. If they want to bring back any other free agents, such as Portis, Bryant, Ariza, or Green, they’ll go further over the cap. Barring major cost-cutting moves, there’s no path to cap room, but it’s reasonable to expect them to stay out of the tax.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Trade exception: $957,609 (expires 6/26/19)
- Trade exception: $694,405 (expires 10/15/19)
- Trade exception: $2,955,654 (expires 12/9/19)
- Trade exception: $3,208,630 (expires 12/17/19)
- Trade exception: $6,011,913 (expires 2/6/20)
- Trade exception: $8,600,000 (expires 2/7/20)
- Mid-level exception: $9,246,000 3
- Bi-annual exception: $3,619,000 3
Footnotes
- This is a projected value.
- Lawson’s and Sessions’ cap holds remain on the Wizards’ books because they haven’t been renounced after going unsigned in 2018/19. They can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
- These are projected values. The Wizards will not be able to use these exceptions if their team salary exceeds the tax apron. In that scenario, they’d instead receive the taxpayer mid-level exception, worth a projected $5,711,000.
Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and RealGM was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Arguably the worst cap situation in the entire league. At the very least, they are the worst cap situation for a non playoff team. Considering nearly Wall probably won’t play in 2019-20 and Mahinmi probably won’t come anywhere close to being worth his salary in 19-20, it doesn’t look like it is going to get any better anytime soon either.
Their best bet is to move Beal for several assets. Maybe the Lakers would be interested and offer 2-3 of their young players. That’s about the only hope for the Wizards.