Richaun Holmes has reached a two-year contract extension with the Wizards after turning down his $12.88MM player option. The move, which was first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), is official, per NBA.com’s transactions log.
The new deal for the 30-year-old center is valued at $25.9MM over two years, according to Charania, but it only carries a $250K guarantee on Holmes’ $13.3MM salary for the 2025/26 season. It looks like Holmes will receive roughly (or maybe exactly) the same amount of guaranteed money as if he had exercised his option.
Holmes was acquired at the February trade deadline in the deal that sent Daniel Gafford to Dallas. He appeared in 17 games for Washington, making eight starts and averaging 7.1 points and 6.1 rebounds in 18.7 minutes per night.
The veteran big man is in contention to be the Wizards’ starting center next season and may fill the role until first-round pick Alexandre Sarr is ready to take over. Holmes, a second-round selection by Philadelphia in 2015, he has been with five teams in nine-year NBA career.
The Wizards made this move so Holmes contract can be waived/stretched which would open up nearly 10.2M in cap space. Look for Holmes to be traded to another team (OKC & Lakers are my top 2) before the FA period opens tomorrow at 6 and then waived/stretched shortly after,
I can see GSW flipping CP3 or GP2 to Washington for Holmes
Chris Paul for any C. I was thinking Val in Chicago
Salary cap move
Holmes career hasn’t been the same since kings traded for Sabonis and sent Richaun to the doghouse. Then he got traded like 3x, barely got minutes and now he’s stuck with the lowly wiz.