The Wizards are pulling their qualifying offer to Garrison Mathews off the table, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link). The move will make Mathews an unrestricted free agent.
Mathews, who has been on a two-way contract with Washington for each of the past two seasons, emerged as a regular rotation player for the team in 2020/21, averaging 5.5 PPG in 64 games (16.2 MPG). The 24-year-old shooting guard has displayed a reliable outside shot since entering the NBA, making 38.9% of 244 total three-point attempts.
The Wizards issued Mathews a qualifying offer last week to make him a restricted free agent. That QO was a partially guaranteed one-year minimum-salary offer and gave Washington matching rights in the event that Mathews signed an offer sheet with another team.
However, as Katz explains, the Wizards’ roster is almost full as a result of the complex five-team trade that will send six players to D.C. — by my count, 14 of the 15 slots on Washington’s regular season roster are spoken for. The club is also close to the tax line, Katz notes, and may want to retain some flexibility with that 15th roster spot.
Mathews will now be free to sign outright with any other team.
L, he can really shoot
Are you including Gill in your count? His contract can be voided if done by or before August 7th. The Wizards could have signed Mathews and had a slot open I believe. Perhaps they want two slots open.
Gill was not in my count. The 14 I had were Beal, Bryant, Bertans, Avdija, Hachimura, Kispert, Gafford, Dinwiddie, KCP, Kuzma, Harrell, Holiday, Neto, and Todd.
Okay. While Todd could earn a roster spot, he could also earn / be designated a two way contract — not count against one of the 15 spots; that way, Todd could get more playing time in the G league as well, which makes sense for a younger player who could really benefit from this experience. That’s the route I expect Cassius Winston will go too.
It’s possible, but he’d be the highest draft pick ever to sign a two-way contract. My assumption for now is he’ll get a standard multiyear deal (even at slightly above the rookie minimum, he’d count for less toward the tax than a vet-minimum signing) and will get sent on G League assignments as needed. We’ll see!
That is a deep roster to be dismissing Mathews. He did not improve last year in 1038 minutes so that’s a rationale for WAS to choose ‘open’ for the 15th slot.
Wasnt Gill traded to Indiana?
No, there was one report on draft night stating Gill and Homesley were involved in the Holiday trade, but it was inaccurate.
There are multiple teams that could use his shooting. Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland off the top of my head, and probably some others. He killed the Heat lol
So shady of a move