- Center Anzejs Pasecniks will play for the Wizards’ G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington tweets. Pasecniks, a 2017 first-round pick by the Sixers, played for the Wizards during the Las Vegas Summer League. Philadelphia renounced its rights to Pasecniks during the offseason.
- Count Wizards guard Bradley Beal among the stars interested in playing for Team USA in the Olympics next summer, Candace Buckner of the Washington Post tweets. “I don’t plan on having a son this next summer. Or daughter! I don’t plan on having no kids, let’s say that,” he said.
While it was overshadowed by bigger-name transactions, one of the most fascinating sequences of the first week of 2019’s free agent period came after the Spurs agreed to sign Marcus Morris to a two-year deal worth their mid-level exception.
San Antonio, having already reached a deal to sign DeMarre Carroll using a portion of the mid-level, renegotiated Carroll’s contract and agreed to send Davis Bertans to the Wizards in a three-team trade that would ultimately open up the MLE for Morris. However, Morris then reneged on his agreement with the Spurs, opting to sign with the Knicks instead. San Antonio subsequently used part of its MLE to sign Trey Lyles, but likely would have preferred to simply keep Bertans.
Addressing that situation for the first time today, Spurs head coach and head of basketball operations Gregg Popovich expressed frustration with how things played out, as Jabari Young of The Athletic (video link) relays.
“It was more than difficult to lose Davis,” Popovich said. “Let’s just say that that was an unfortunate situation that was handled unprofessionally on a couple of different levels. We made that move (trading Bertans) to make the signing that we did, and we got blindsided. Davis was a special player, as we all know. He was young and getting better and better, so we hated losing him.”
Morris’ change of heart in free agency played a part in his split with agent Rich Paul, who reportedly urged him to stick to his deal with the Spurs. The situation also allegedly fueled some animosity between the Knicks and Spurs.
Morris told Shams Charania of The Athletic in late July that as soon as he changed his mind and decided to sign with the Knicks, he called the Spurs to make sure they knew. According to Morris, he had “great conversations afterward” with the Spurs and felt good about moving forward.
Based on his Media Day comments, it doesn’t sound as if Popovich shared the same feelings about how the saga played out. Asked today if Morris reached out to the team and explained what happened, Popovich replied, “Not really.”
The Wizards will open training camp with several important players sidelined, tweets Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. John Wall, who may miss the entire season with a ruptured Achilles, is obviously a non-participant. He’s joined on the sidelines by Isaiah Thomas, who is recovering from thumb surgery; Troy Brown, who has a left calf strain; Ian Mahinmi, who is battling Achilles pain; and C.J. Miles, who had surgery on his left foot in July.
“We have some challenges ahead right now with our limited guys in training camp,” coach Scott Brooks admitted.
There’s more from Media Day in Washington:
- Brooks answered “no” when asked if he’s mentally prepared to face a full season without Wall, but admitted that it’s a possibility (Twitter link). He promised the team will be patient with Wall’s rehab process, adding, “He’s not going to play until he’s ready to play 100 percent.” (Twitter link). Wall also addressed reporters, saying he will take cues from his body and is in “no rush” to return (Twitter link).
- With so much turnover in the past eight months, the starting lineup remains unsettled heading into camp, Brooks said (Twitter link). Bradley Beal and Thomas Bryant will both be starters, but the other three spots depend on what happens during the preseason.
- Moritz Wagner is looking forward to a greater opportunity in Washington after playing just 43 games as a rookie with the Lakers, relays Chris Crouse of HoopsRumors (video link). Wagner, who was part of the trade that sent Anthony Davis to L.A., spent much of his first season in the G League. “My agent called and told me I was traded,” Wagner said. “That’s kind of how the business goes, I guess. That’s what you sign up for. People always talk about being traded as a bad thing. I think in my situation it was the best thing that could happen to me.”
- Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard will be more focused on player development than win totals this season, Howard Fendrich of The Associated Press writes. Washington drafted impressive forward Rui Hachimura with the No. 9 pick in the draft and could play the entire season without All-Star John Wall due to a ruptured Achilles’ tendon.
- Candace Buckner of the Washington Post examines three questions for the Wizards entering the 2019/20 season. Washington has several important factors to discuss this season, including a potential extension with Bradley Beal, whether Hachimura should start and Wall’s progress from injury rehab.
New GM Tommy Sheppard indicated in a press conference this week that the Wizards will be giving a lot more minutes to younger players this year, relays Fred Katz of The Athletic. Sheppard stated that the organization wants to have each rookie play at least 1,500 minutes between the NBA and the G League. That represents a significant change from last season, when Bradley Beal led the league in minutes played and coach Scott Brooks relied heavily on his veterans.
Washington has a pair of rookies with guaranteed contracts in Rui Hachimura and Admiral Schofield, so they should see plenty of time with the Wizards. Garrison Mathews, who has a two-way deal, and Justin Robinson, who wasn’t drafted but has a chance to make the final roster, could both wind up at Capital City. Troy Brown, Moritz Wagner, Isaac Bonga and Jemerrio Jones, all second-year players who didn’t see much time last season, may spend time there as well.
“We gotta show them why and how it’s good for them,” Sheppard said about selling the approach to veterans. “But I think they’re active participants in it, and I think everybody appreciates that we’re trying to prolong careers. You make a bad decision on a player — they go out, and they pop a hamstring, or something happens which could’ve been avoided because of fatigue factor we didn’t recognize — that’s on us.”
There’s more from D.C., all courtesy of Katz:
- John Wall is serving as a virtual assistant coach while he waits to return from a ruptured Achilles that may sideline him for the entire season. Sheppard said Wall is helping to teach the younger players, and the team won’t pressure him to try to return. “We’re not waiting on a calendar. There’s not a clock when he comes back,” he said. “He comes back when he’s 100 percent.”
- The Wizards have 13 players with guaranteed contracts and may opt to go with a 14-player roster rather than the maximum of 15. “If you have 15 players and one gets hurt, (using a two-way player) is the only way you can plug it,” Sheppard said. “You have 14 players; you can sign somebody and bring them in that’s not in the G League. It gives you optionality … My vision, putting rosters together, it doesn’t make a lot of sense not to hold back a roster spot for the competition, for the inevitable injury, something.” Jordan McRae, who has a $400K guarantee, is considered likely to earn a roster spot, according to Katz, but injuries to Wall and Isaiah Thomas increase the need for another point guard.
- Brooks, who is entering the fourth year of his five-year contract, will be judged on building a positive culture rather than wins and losses, Sheppard adds.
Before they officially set their 20-man roster for training camp by signing Chris Chiozza on Thursday, the Wizards briefly carried another newly-added player on their roster. According to RealGM’s transactions log, free agent power forward Michael Cobbins signed a contract with Washington and was waived shortly thereafter.
A former starter at Oklahoma State, Cobbins went undrafted in 2015 and signed his first professional contract with the Thunder that year, but has never appeared in an NBA game. Over the course of the last four seasons, Cobbins has spent time with teams in Greece, Germany, and Croatia, in addition to the the Oklahoma City Blue of the G League.
The Wizards’ deal with Cobbins was almost certainly an Exhibit 10 contract designed to get him a bonus worth up to $50K if he spends at least two months with Washington’s G League affiliate this season.
Since Cobbins’ last G League stint came with the OKC Blue in 2017/18, the Thunder’s NBAGL team would typically hold the 27-year-old’s returning rights for the coming season. However, the Capital City Go-Go claimed him in their expansion draft last summer, so the Wizards’ affiliate won’t have to make a trade to acquire his rights.
When Bradley Beal become eligible for a contract extension in July, the Wizards reportedly offered the most lucrative possible long-term deal they could (three years, $111.8MM). Two months later, they still don’t have an answer from Beal, who isn’t talking as if a new contract is his top priority at the moment.
In a conversation with NBC Sports Washington’s Chris Miller (video link), Beal said he hasn’t been thinking about an extension, preferring to let his agent handle his contract situation. However, he also stressed that he’s not looking for an exit from the Wizards.
“Honestly you might slap me, but I haven’t thought about it,” Beal said. “I’m just getting better and letting my agent, [GM] Tommy [Sheppard], and everybody else deal with it. I just go hoop. Every day I see somebody and they ask ‘Beal, you leaving?’ and I’m like ‘I’m still living in D.C., I ain’t going nowhere.'”
Acknowledging that he’s aware of speculation about his future and the fact that fans want an answer, Beal said that he likes being a member of the Wizards, hinting that the grass wouldn’t necessarily be greener if he were to go elsewhere.
“It’s a great thing that a lot of people love your game and want you on their team,” Beal said. “But I love the situation I have too. Not every situation would be my situation.”
Sheppard said today that he’s giving Beal space to consider the team’s extension offer, and that it will be up to him to make a decision by October 21 (Twitter link via Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington). Because the All-Star guard still has two guaranteed years left on his current contract, he can’t sign an in-season extension. As we’ve noted previously, waiting until at least 2020 to sign a new deal would give him the best chance to maximize his earnings.
Here’s more on the Wizards:
- Having assumed control of the Wizards’ front office this summer, Sheppard and his group are prioritizing players who embody the “Wizards Way,” as Gene Wang of The Washington Post relays. “I think we’re still evaluating the best way to express it, but we know what we don’t want the Wizards Way to look like,” Sheppard said. “We don’t want players that don’t want to be here. We don’t want people to have contracts that far exceed what they produce result-wise. We don’t want unhappy people that are going to cause disintegration in our locker room. That’s the way out. That’s the Wizards’ way out, so what we’re trying to onboard now, talent, of course, but high character, hard-driven, value-driven people that we can back with data that have places in our locker room.”
- The Wizards still haven’t gotten an answer on whether their disabled player exception request for John Wall will be approved, Sheppard said today (Twitter link via Hughes). The club applied all the way back at the start of July, so it appears it wasn’t a slam-dunk decision. An NBA-designated physician will have to determine whether Wall is “substantially more likely than not” to be out of action through at least June 15, 2020.
- Hughes adds in the same tweet that Wall will be helping out the coaching staff this season as he recovers from his Achilles tear. The veteran point guard will have a few players to whom he’s specifically assigned.
- It will be a pivotal year for head coach Scott Brooks in Washington, according to Hughes, who writes at NBC Sports Washington that the season could go a number of different ways. It remains an open question whether Brooks will be coaching the Wizards beyond 2019/20, says Hughes.
- The Wizards signed Chris Chiozza and finalized their 20-man training camp roster, as we detailed earlier today.
The Wizards have finalized their training camp roster, signing free agent point guard Chris Chiozza to the fill the 20th and final spot on the squad, the team announced today in a press release. Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington first reported last week that Chiozza would be joining the club for camp. He signed an Exhibit 10 contract, tweets Candace Buckner of The Washington Post.
Chiozza is a familiar face for the Wizards, who initially signed him to their Summer League team and then to their preseason roster in 2018 after he went undrafted out of Florida. The 6’0″ guard subsequently spent most of his rookie season with Washington’s G League affiliate, averaging 13.6 PPG and 6.8 APG on .435/.420/.777 shooting in 43 games (33.5 MPG) for the Capital City Go-Go. He was named to the NBAGL’s All-Rookie team at season’s end.
Chiozza also spent some of his rookie season with the Rockets, signing a 10-day contract with the club in February and then a rest-of-season deal in March. His contract with Houston included a non-guaranteed second year, but he was waived in July after playing limited minutes in seven NBA games as a Rocket.
Since the Wizards only have 13 players with fully guaranteed salaries and one on a two-way contract, it’s possible Chiozza will be among the players to start the regular season in D.C. His odds of making the team may hinge in part on how Isaiah Thomas‘ injury recovery progresses — Thomas underwent surgery on his thumb earlier this month and isn’t expected to return by opening night.
The Wizards signed shooting guard Kellen Dunham to a contract on Tuesday, but waived him shortly thereafter, according to a pair of NBA transaction logs. RealGM lists Dunham’s signing, while NBA.com notes that he was released.
Dunham, who played his college ball at Butler, went undrafted in 2016 and has bounced around between the G League and international leagues since then. His NBAGL rights were acquired by the Capital City Go-Go – Washington’s affiliate – in 2018’s expansion draft, and he spent the entire 2018/19 season with the club, averaging 7.8 PPG with a .454 3PT% in 50 games off the bench.
It appears likely that Dunham will return to the Go-Go for the 2019/20 season. When he does, he should be in line for a bonus worth up to $50K as a result of being signed on Tuesday.
An Exhibit 10 contract entitles a player to that bonus if he goes on to spend two months on his team’s G League roster — even if he was on the NBA roster for less than 24 hours before being released, as was the case with Dunham.
Another team has got its 2020/21 rookie scale team option decisions out of the way well in advance of the October 31 deadline, as Fred Katz of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that the Wizards have exercised their third-year options on both Troy Brown and Moritz Wagner.
The 15th overall pick in the 2018 draft, Brown will now have a fully guaranteed cap hit of $3,372,840 for the 2020/21 season. Washington also locked in a $2,161,920 cap charge in ’20/21 for Wagner, who was drafted 25th overall in 2018. The Wizards will have to make decisions on fourth-year options for 2021/22 on both players by October 31, 2020.
Brown, 20, appeared in 52 games in his rookie season, averaging 4.8 PPG and 2.8 RPG in 14.0 minutes per contest for the Wizards. He’s expected to play a more significant role going forward, but he’s currently dealing with a left calf strain that may jeopardize his availability for opening night.
Wagner, 22, spent his rookie year with the Lakers, averaging 4.8 PPG and 2.0 RPG in 43 games (10.4 MPG). He arrived in Washington along with Isaac Bonga and Jemerrio Jones as part of the blockbuster three-team trade that saw Anthony Davis land in Los Angeles.
We’re tracking all of this year’s decisions on 2020/21 rookie scale options right here.