- ESPN’s Bobby Marks provides some financial details on the rookie scale extensions signed on Monday, outlining (via Twitter) exactly how much bonus money is included in five of those deals. Marks also identifies four players who will receive increased partial guarantees as a result of remaining under contract with their respective teams through Wednesday (Twitter link). Those players are Christian Wood (Pistons), Jordan McRae (Wizards), Kendrick Nunn (Heat), and Trey Burke (Sixers).
- Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington passes along health updates on a few injured Wizards players, noting that Troy Brown (calf), C.J. Miles (foot), and Moritz Wagner (back) were all able to practice on Monday. However, Brown and Miles seem unlikely to be ready for the team’s opener on Wednesday, as does Isaiah Thomas (thumb), per head coach Scott Brooks (Twitter link via Hughes).
The Wizards have converted Chris Chiozza‘s Exhibit 10 contract into a two-way deal, league sources tell Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link). The move ensures that Washington now has 15 players on standard contracts and a pair on two-way pacts, making the roster regular-season-ready.
Chiozza, who will turn 24 a month from today, began his professional career last fall by attending training camp with the Wizards, then spent most of his rookie year with the Capital City Go-Go, Washington’s G League affiliate. The former Florida guard later signed a 10-day contract and a rest-of-season deal with Houston, making his NBA debut with the Rockets. However, he was waived in July and made his way back to the Wizards this fall.
In 47 total G League games last season for the Go-Go and the Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Houston’s affiliate), Chiozza averaged 13.2 PPG, 7.3 APG, and 4.8 RPG with a .437/.409/.760 shooting line.
With John Wall on the shelf due to an Achilles tear and Isaiah Thomas recovering from thumb surgery, Chiozza will provide the Wizards with some extra depth at the point guard spot behind Ish Smith to open the season. His two-way contract will limit him to 45 days at the NBA level, but that clock won’t start until G League training camps get underway next week.
NBA teams have until 5:00pm eastern time today to set their rosters for the 2019/20 regular season. Clubs can continue to make roster moves after that deadline, but when the clock strikes five, no team will be permitted to have more than 15 players on standard contracts and two on two-way deals.
[RELATED: 2019/20 NBA Roster Counts]
Currently, there are seven teams that haven’t yet reached that regular-season limit. One of those seven teams, the Rockets, will reportedly convert Chris Clemons‘ standard contract to a two-way deal today, making official a move that was reported last Thursday.
Two other clubs will make similar moves — the Raptors and Wizards are each carrying 16 players on standard contracts but have open two-way contract slots. Toronto is expected to convert Oshae Brissett to a two-way deal, while Washington will likely do the same for Chris Chiozza.
That leaves just four teams with actual cuts to make. Here’s a breakdown of those four clubs:
- Detroit Pistons (16 standard contracts, 2 two-way contracts): The Pistons have 14 players with fully guaranteed salaries and intend to retain Christian Wood, who is on a non-guaranteed contract. That means they’ll have to either waive Joe Johnson – their other non-guaranteed player – or find a trade that allows them to create room on the regular-season roster for Johnson.
- Los Angeles Lakers (17 standard contracts, 2 two-way contracts): In addition to their 14 players with guaranteed salaries, the Lakers are also carrying Dwight Howard, Devontae Cacok, and Demetrius Jackson. I’d be shocked if anyone but Howard claims the 15th roster spot, but we’ll see what the team’s plans are for Cacok and Jackson. Theoretically, each of them could be converted to a two-way contract, but current two-way players Zach Norvell Jr. and/or Kostas Antetokounmpo would have to be waived in that scenario.
- Minnesota Timberwolves (16 standard contracts, 2 two-way contracts): The Timberwolves have 15 players with guaranteed salaries, leaving Tyrone Wallace and his non-guaranteed contract as the most likely odd man out. If Minnesota decides to keep Wallace, it would need to trade or release a player with a guaranteed deal.
- Utah Jazz (16 standard contracts, 2 two-way contracts): The Jazz have four players without fully guaranteed salaries, but two of those players – Royce O’Neale and Georges Niang – are presumably locks to stick around. Utah’s decision figures to come down to Stanton Kidd vs. William Howard. Kidd $250K partial guarantee is more substantial than Howard’s $50K, which may help give him the upper hand.
It’s possible that a few more teams will make roster changes today, but the league’s other 23 clubs are currently at or below the regular-season maximum.
- Wizards guard Isaiah Thomas participated in a full practice Saturday and hopes to play in Wednesday’s season opener against Dallas, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link). However, head coach Scott Brooks isn’t ready to commit on a potential Thomas return just yet. “I’d love to have him for the first game,” Brooks said on whether Thomas would play. “We’ll see. Probably not, but we’ll see.”
The Wizards have waived center Anzejs Pasecniks and forward Jalen Jones, the team’s media relations department tweets.
Both players were recently signed to Exhibit 10 contracts and will likely wind up with the team’s G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go.
Pasecniks, a seven-footer from Latvia, was acquired by the Sixers on draft night in 2017 after he was selected with the 25th overall pick by Orlando. He played overseas the last two seasons for the Spanish team Gran Carania. Philadelphia renounced his NBA rights, clearing a path for him to join the Wizards for Summer League play.
Jalen Jones, a 6’7″ forward out of Texas A&M, has appeared in 32 total games for the Pelicans, Mavericks, and Cavaliers over the last two seasons. He was waived from his two-way contract with Cleveland in January and finished the 2018/19 season with Baskonia in Spain.
Jordan McRae and Justin Robinson are likely to get the last two roster spots now that Pasecniks and Jones have been waived, Fred Katz of The Athletic tweets. McRae’s veteran minimum salary includes a guarantee of $600K if he’s on the opening night roster. His $1.6MM contract would fully guarantee if he’s still on the Wizards through December 20th.
Robinson’s $988K contract doesn’t become fully guaranteed until January 10th. Robinson, a 6’2” guard, was signed in July after going undrafted out of Virginia Tech.
Guard Chris Chiozza will likely receive the team’s other two-way contract, Candace Buckner of the Washington Post tweets. Chiozza was signed to a training camp deal last month. The Wizards’ other two-way player is guard Garrison Mathews.
- Wizards first-round selection Rui Hachimura is likely to be in the starting lineup for the season opener, Candace Buckner of the Washington Post tweets. Coach Scott Brooks said he was “leaning the way.” Hachimura averaged 10.3 PPG and 6.5 RPG in 21.9 MPG during the preseason.
Bradley Beal‘s decision to sign a two-year contract extension with the Wizards on Thursday surprised many NBA observers, since Beal could have potentially signed a more lucrative contract in a year or simply chose not to extend his stay with his rebuilding franchise. Speaking to reporters, including David Aldridge of The Athletic, the All-Star shooting guard explained why he opted to sign the new deal, which will lock him up through at least the 2021/22 season.
“I guess legacy at the end of the day,” Beal said. “This is where I’ve been for the last seven years, going on eight. I have an opportunity to be able to turn this thing around. A lot of people doubt that. I view it as a challenge. I view it as something that I feel a lot of D.C. sports have been a part of, rebuilding something and kind of building them into championship-caliber teams. Why not me? Why kind of sell myself short of a great opportunity that I have in my hands right now?”
While the extension is a big win for the Wizards and new general manager Tommy Sheppard, it’s worth noting that Beal only tacked on one guaranteed season to his current deal, so his commitment to the organization isn’t as long-term as it could have been.
One person with knowledge of Beal’s thinking tells Aldridge that the 26-year-old is “giving [Sheppard] a chance now that he’s in charge.” If the Wizards don’t show real progress in the next year or two, it’s still possible that Beal will have second thoughts about whether he wants to remain in D.C. long-term.
Here’s more on Beal’s new deal:
- Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington hears that Sheppard and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis, along with other Wizards executives, flew to Chicago last month to meet with Beal and agent Mark Bartelstein. Beal had the opportunity at that meeting to ask questions about the franchise’s direction. “I just felt comfortable with where we were going,” Beal said. “I talked to Ted and they kind of projected the future and gave me the layout of what we can do in the future.”
- Fred Katz of The Athletic explores how Beal’s extension affects the Wizards’ rebuilding process, noting that having the two-time All-Star under contract for at least the next three years gives the team some extra security to be patient with its roster moves.
- Ben Golliver of The Washington Post digs into what the extension means to Sheppard, a first-time general manager who was placed in a tough situation.
- The Heat were known to be one team that would have serious interest in Beal if the Wizards changed course and decided to trade him, but that will no longer be an option for Miami, at least during the 2019/20 season, as Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel writes.
9:10pm: Dixson has been waived, as our own JD Shaw relays (Twitter link).
3:52pm: The Wizards are expected to waive Dixson before their preseason game on Friday, tweets Katz. The team plans on him starting the season with the Go-Go.
3:09pm: The Wizards are back up to 20 players, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that the club has signed forward Dikembe Dixson to an Exhibit 10 contract.
Dixson, who went undrafted out of UIC in 2018, started his professional career in Lebanon before returning stateside. He appeared in 12 G League games in 2018/19, averaging 5.3 PPG and 1.3 RPG in just 9.4 minutes per contest for the Windy City Bulls and Capital City Go-Go.
The Wizards’ G League affiliate holds Dixson’s returning rights and appears set to bring him back for the coming season. By signing an Exhibit 10 deal with Washington, he’ll be eligible for a bonus worth up to $50K if he spends at least 60 days with the Go-Go.
The Wizards made three cuts on Wednesday, but have already filled those three roster spots by signing Dixson, Jalen Jones, and Anzejs Pasecniks.
12:35pm: The extension is official, according to a tweet from the Wizards.
7:42am: The Wizards have reached an agreement on a two-year contract extension for All-Star shooting guard Bradley Beal, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. According to Wojnarowski, the deal will be worth just shy of $72MM, the maximum amount the team could offer.
Beal’s current contract pays him approximately $27.1MM in 2019/20 and $28.75MM in 2020/21. His new extension will start at 120% of his ’20/21 salary, which works out to a $34.5MM figure for 2021/22. According to Wojnarowski, Beal’s 2022/23 salary ($37.26MM) will be a player option.
In total, the Wizards’ star will be in line to earn about $127.6MM over the next four years — or he could opt out and hit the free agent market after three seasons, when he’d have 10 years of NBA experience under his belt and would qualify for a maximum salary worth 35% of the cap.
“This will allow him to do another deal while he’s potentially in his prime,“ Beal’s agent Mark Bartelstein said of the extension, per Candace Buckner of The Washington Post (Twitter link).
The Wizards first offered Beal a three-year, $111MM+ contract extension back in July, but the 26-year-old indicated he wanted to take his time and evaluate the team’s direction under its new management group before making any decisions. As Wojnarowski points out, Beal’s decision to re-up with Washington – even on a short-term extension – represents a “spectacular victory” for team owner Ted Leonsis and new general manager Tommy Sheppard.
“Brad has always made it clear to me, that in a perfect world, he would never leave Washington,” Bartelstein told ESPN. “He has felt an obligation to be the focal point in turning the Wizards into an elite team. He’s thrilled about all the resources that Ted is pouring into the franchise and thrilled how committed (Leonsis) and Tommy are to building something special.”
Wojnarowski reported last week that the Wizards were willing to do an extension for Beal “in any form” he wanted, and it appears the team stuck to that promise. Besides being a one-plus-one extension rather than a three-year deal, Beal’s new contract also features as 15% trade kicker and a 50% advance on his 2021/22 and 2022/23 salaries once the extension begins, as Bobby Marks of ESPN details.
Perhaps most importantly, signing this extension will make Beal ineligible to be traded for the 2019/20 season. Contract extensions that exceed the league’s extend-and-trade limits ensure that a player can’t be traded for six months, so by the time Beal becomes eligible to be dealt, the February trade deadline will have passed.
Teams around the NBA had viewed Beal as the most likely star player to become disgruntled and become a trade candidate in the coming months, given the Wizards’ lottery expectations for the ’19/20 campaign. However, Washington insisted throughout the offseason that the former Florida Gator was unavailable. Clubs hoping to make a run at Beal will have to wait until at least the summer of 2020 to try to change the Wizards’ minds.
Beal, who has played all 82 games and made the All-Star team for two consecutive seasons, had a career year for the Wizards in 2018/19, averaging 25.6 PPG, 5.5 APG, and 5.0 RPG with a shooting line of .475/.351/.808. He also played an NBA-high 36.9 minutes per contest.
While Beal may not lead the league in minutes again in 2019/20, he’ll be leaned on heavily once more with star point guard John Wall expected to miss most or all of the season as he recovers from a torn Achilles.
Speaking of Wall, he and Beal both now have guaranteed contracts for the next three years, with player options for 2022/23. In 2021/22 – the final guaranteed season for the star guards – they’ll be earning nearly $79MM combined.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.