JANUARY 23: The Wizards have made it official, announcing in a press release that they’ve signed Len.
JANUARY 22: Free agent center Alex Len, who cleared waivers on Thursday after being released by the Raptors on Tuesday, has agreed to sign a one-year contract with the Wizards, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
According to Charania, Len had multiple suitors and chose the Wizards in part because of the clear path to playing time in D.C. — starting center Thomas Bryant tore his ACL earlier this month and will miss the rest of the season, while Anzejs Pasecniks was released this past weekend, leaving Robin Lopez as the only true center on the active roster.
The fifth overall pick in the 2013 draft, Len signed a one-year, $2.26MM contract with the Raptors in November, but didn’t see much action in his brief stint with the team. The 2.3 points and 10.9 minutes per game he averaged in seven contests with Toronto would’ve been his lowest marks since his rookie season.
Len has been more productive in recent years. He averaged a career-best 11.1 PPG in 77 games (20.1 MPG) with Atlanta in 2018/19, then posted 8.0 PPG and 5.8 RPG in 55 games (17.6 MPG) in part-time roles for the Hawks and Kings last season.
Having waived Pasecniks a few days ago, the Wizards had an open spot on their 15-man roster, so no corresponding move will be required to make room for Len.
The big man will earn a prorated portion of the veteran’s minimum on his new deal with Washington, notes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington (Twitter link). If the signing is officially completed today, Len would earn a $1,712,648 salary and the Wizards would take on a $1,276,472 cap hit.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Played at Maryland too.. not sure if that’ll do anything for his game now tho lol but at-least he’s back
I would guess that Len fell out of favor for not adhering to team protocols for health and safety. He missed two games by league mandate, presumably for contact tracing issues.
He should fit right in with the Wizards.
I’d guess Toronto waived him because he requested it – lots of teams were interested in him, and he’s trying to get paid.
You suppose end of the bench guys just say, “I want to get another cheque from someone else— please release me and pay out my contract so I can sign for more money elsewhere.” It sound like a great way for lots of guys to increase their earnings. Maybe Len can do it again in a month since he is in such high demand?
Len might get more money next year by getting playing time this year. And Toronto might be happy to release him if it saves them a little bit, assuming they’re not going to play him.
Ujuri is no dummy either: if you get a reputation for being good to players, you get more opportunities in free agency.
Teams don’t just release players because they want them to get more money. It’s usually because a) they want to get payroll under tax threshold – not applicable here; b) they want to open a roster space for adding a more useful talent/ gave up hope on said player developing in their system as anticipated — possible here but rather early to give up on him or expect he might not be useful this season; or c) the player is unwelcome on the team because of some behavioural issue.
OR: To Jason’s point, it could have been mutual
I mean teams buy out guys every year who then go on to sign min deals w/ contenders.
And Toronto doesn’t look like a playoff team so far
Sure, that happens but not until they passed the halfway mark of a season. Len will be paid his guaranteed 2.26 million from Toronto as I understand. If it was only partially guaranteed until a point that was nearing, that would be another case where guys get released.
It would be very strange for a team and player to give up like this just because the player wants more playing time, money, etc. If that were the case you’d see guys lined up pushing GMs to cut them a break and let them get a new contract and add another million and change to their pockets. Some other issue is at play.
4 and 1 in the last 5 games
I feel like they’ve been waiting to replace Bryant because they knew they wouldn’t play for a couple weeks plus playoffs look slim so it doesn’t make sense to spend
From what I saw of him on the Raptors he’s not very good and a borderline NBA player. It makes you realize how spoiled we were having Ibaka and Gasol as our big men the last few years.
Bottom line players don’t have stats 8 pts and 5.7 in 20 minutes
WCS
19 minutes
6.5 pts and 5.7 rebs
TT had 8 and 8
Cavs gave him near-max contract $82 million old cba
He wasn’t good enough to be a regular rotation player, hence why he was released. His stats are irrelevant.
NBA average stats
10.2 pts
6.0 rebs
He put up those numbers on terrible Suns, Hawks, and Kings teams. He’s simply not good enough to be a rotation player on a good team.
Thought the Wolves may have looked at him…….Assuming the Wolves are tanking trying to get that top 3 pick next year…..
If Wolves take Len, they need to pay luxury tax for consecutive years
Pistons and Wizards will tank after February
You can’t teach size. To me he has the talent. It’s gotta be mental toughness. He’s been moved around a lot. And been told many things. I hope he finds his peace and gm. Still young enough to find his place in the gm. And Wizards need a big. Never too late
Can’t teach slow either
The big, slow center is going the way of the dinosaur.
Bucks should have nabbed him as they don’t have backup C, career ave 3PT (33%) is better than Giannis not that I would want either one taking too many.
lol yup instead they r still hanging onto a dj wilson who they hardly play