- With the Wizards off to a disappointing 1-7 start, Austin Rivers has been frustrated by his own play this season, notes Ben Standig for NBC Sports Washington. Rivers is down to just 6.5 points per game while shooting 37.3 percent from the field, a far cry from his production in recent seasons.
5:24pm: Chandler’s frustrations with the Suns have been growing over the years, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link). He was angry about losing and being shut down early, playing just 47 and 46 games the past two seasons. Before zeroing in on the Lakers, Chandler had also expressed interest in joining the Wizards, Warriors or Rockets.
4:52pm: The Suns are negotiating a buyout with 36-year-old center Tyson Chandler, tweets Marc Stein of The New York Times, and the Lakers are his likely destination once he clears waivers (Twitter link).
After being used primarily as a starter since coming to Phoenix in 2015, Chandler has slipped into a reserve role this season behind No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton. He has averaged 12.7 minutes per night in seven games and doesn’t fit in with the Suns’ youth movement. Chandler is making $13.6MM in the final season of a four-year, $52MM contract.
He could become a defensive anchor for the Lakers, who don’t have much depth at center behind starter JaVale McGee. Chandler is a native of Los Angeles, Stein notes, and his salary will likely discourage any other team from making a waiver claim.
He and the Suns have had a standing buyout agreement in place for a while, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Chandler wanted to be sure another team would pick him up before finalizing the deal, and he found a taker in L.A. It explains why the Lakers didn’t make a stronger effort during the offseason to sign another center, adds ESPN’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link).
- Lawrence echoes an earlier report, writing that the Wizards are showing no inclination to break up their team or to fire head coach Scott Brooks. However, one Eastern Conference executive cautions that could change. “Brooks’ seat could get hotter if they don’t win and management thinks the team is better than it really is,” the exec tells Lawrence.
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Here are Tuesday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Wizards have assigned Chasson Randle to their Capital City affiliate, the team announced on Twitter. Washington waived Randle in training camp, but he signed with the team yesterday because the 14th roster spot needed to be filled.
- The Hawks assigned swingman Daniel Hamilton to their affiliate in Erie, according to the team’s website. He returned to practice last week after recovering from a tear in his right rotator cuff and has yet to play this season.
- The Sixers announced that Jonah Bolden has been sent to their Delaware affiliate. A draft-and-stash player who played in Israel last season, Bolden has appeared in four games for Philadelphia.
- Dwight Howard is working in the same facility with the Capital City Go Go while rehabbing a strained piriformis muscle, but he has to coordinate his schedule so he doesn’t actually practice with the team, relays Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. The NBA doesn’t let its players practice with G League squads, so Howard has been working out with Wizards player development assistants Alex McLean and Mike Williams. He is expected to make his season debut on Friday.
Dwight Howard, who signed with the Wizards in July, appears ready to make his debut for his new team, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Charania, Howard plans to suit up for the Wizards when they host the Thunder this Friday.
Howard, who has been on the shelf so far this season due to an issue with his piriformis muscle, is capable of providing a major boost to a Wizards club that has struggled mightily on defense and on the glass so far this season, as Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington wrote earlier this week.
Washington has allowed 122.4 points per game and ranks in the NBA’s bottom three in both offensive and defensive rebounding rates. Howard, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, is one of the league’s best rebounders, having averaged 12.5 RPG for Charlotte last season.
Here’s more on the Wizards:
- With the Wizards off to a 1-6 start, there have been several theories about why the team has struggled so much to open the season, says ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. According to Windhorst, one theme brought up by a few Wizards players he spoke to was the number of 2019 free-agents-to-be on the roster. Some players may have to recommit to prioritizing the team over individual stats as they approach free agency.
- History shows that the Wizards’ ugly start doesn’t mean they should throw in the towel on the 2018/19 season, writes Nick Ashooh of NBC Sports Washington. As Ashooh outlines, it was just two years ago that Washington started 2-8 and eventually finished with 49 wins.
- Acquired in a June trade with the Clippers, Austin Rivers hasn’t made the impact that many predicted he would, according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington, who suggests that Rivers has “appeared lost” while adjusting to his new role and new team.
3:07pm: The Wizards have officially signed Randle, the team announced today in a press release. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks outlines, Randle will earn $7,624 per day on his new minimum salary deal, which will increase Washington’s projected tax bill by $14,956 per day.
1:09pm: The Wizards intend to sign point guard Chasson Randle to an NBA contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Randle was in camp with Washington this fall, but was waived by the club just before the regular season began. Two and a half weeks later, he’ll be re-added to the roster.
As we explained earlier today, NBA teams are generally required to carry at least 14 players on their 15-man regular season rosters, but league rules allow clubs to carry less than that amount for up to two weeks at a time. Because the Wizards only had 13 players on their roster for the first two weeks of the season, a transaction to add a 14th man was required.
Washington was considered likely to stay in-house to fill that roster spot, and it will be Randle who gets the call after having reported to the Wizards’ G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go. The 25-year-old last appeared in the NBA during the 2016/17 campaign, when he played eight games for the Sixers and 18 for the Knicks. He averaged 5.3 PPG and 1.3 APG in 11.5 minutes per game during his brief NBA stint.
While Randle will fill the Wizards’ 14th roster spot for now, he’s not locked in for the rest of the season. His new one-year contract will be non-guaranteed, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The league-wide salary guarantee date is January 10, so Randle will have to stick on the roster through that date in order to fully guarantee his salary.
After carrying just 13 players on standard NBA contracts for two weeks to open the 2018/19 season, the Wizards now face a deadline to add a 14th player to their roster. The team is considered “highly likely” to fill that opening by promoting a player from within the organization, according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington.
As Hughes details, two-way players Jordan McRae and Devin Robinson are candidates to receive an NBA roster spot, but they’re not the only options for Washington. The Wizards may also consider calling up a player from their new G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go.
Lavoy Allen, Chasson Randle, Chris Chiozza, and Tiwian Kendley all spent time with the Wizards during the preseason before being waived and heading to the G League, so they’d be the top candidates for a promotion. Both Allen and Randle have previous NBA experience.
NBA teams are generally required to carry at least 14 players on their 15-man regular season rosters, but league rules allow clubs to carry less than that amount for up to two weeks at a time. Because the Wizards have only had 13 players under contract since setting their opening-night roster, those two weeks are just about up.
Whichever player fills that 14th slot on the roster seems unlikely to get a guaranteed contract. The Wizards, who are off to a 1-5 start and have had the league’s worst defense so far, will probably want to maintain flexibility to add roster reinforcements via free agency or a trade down the road.
The Wizards came into the season with the expectation of being a serious contender with LeBron James out of the Eastern Conference picture.
Following a 1-5 start, the Wizards might have to start thinking soon about breaking up their nucleus. They’re not only losing, they’re bickering once agin.
John Wall and Bradley Beal have criticized teammates for having their own agendas. Austin Rivers says the rest of the league is laughing at them.
Certainly, Washington’s defense has been a joke. They’ve given up the most points per game in the NBA. During their current three-game losing streak, they’ve allowed 144 to Golden State, 116 to Sacramento and 136 to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Their rebounding has also been atrocious, though in fairness Dwight Howard hasn’t played a game due to injury.
The overriding concern is whether the Wizards can be taken seriously with the pieces they have. They’re currently over the cap and the luxury-tax line. Their top three players — Wall, Beal and Otto Porter Jr. — will eat up over $92MM in cap space next season and more than $98MM the following season if Porter exercises his player option.
Wall and Beal have always had an uneasy partnership and it doesn’t appear to be getting any better. The supporting cast has been underwhelming, with Porter in particular not producing at the level expected of a team’s No. 3 option. Perhaps the return of Howard will help settle things down in the interior, though Howard has a way of quickly wearing out his welcome.
This brings us to our question of the day: Should the Wizards stay the course and keep the John Wall-Bradley Beal backcourt intact or should they try to shake things up with a major trade?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to what you have to say.
Austin Rivers, one of the newest Wizards, had some pointed words for his teammates after the team dropped to 1-5 this season, E. Jay Zarett of the Sporting News relays. Washington is giving up a league-worst 125 PPG. “Nobody’s going to feel bad for us,” the combo guard said. “People are laughing at us. … I don’t know how we expect to get wins when they are just walking into the paint, (we are) giving up threes. It comes from effort and talking. You have got to have personal pride. You’ve got to get mad when someone scores on you. We are not the Warriors.”
We’ve got more on the Wizards:
- Breaking up the backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal and finding a taker for Otto Porter Jr.’s big contract is the only way for Washington to begin a meaningful rebuild, Frank Urbina of HoopsHype opines. Wall and Beal remain the team’s best assets despite Wall’s extension kicking in next season and Beal having two more years left on his contract, Urbina continues. If the front office doesn’t do something bold, it seems destined to deal with constant dysfunctional mediocrity, Urbina adds.
- Rivers told father Doc Rivers that he was unsure whether he’d re-sign with the Clippers as a free agent in 2019 before he was dealt to Washington, Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times reports. Austin Rivers wanted to establish that he could be an effective NBA player without playing for his father. Rivers, who is making $12.65MM this season, was swapped for center Marcin Gortat. “I felt like my head was hitting a ceiling because I was ultimately playing for my dad and no matter what I did it always came back to that. … I could score 60, 50, 40, whatever and people would be like, ‘Oh, his dad’s the coach,’” Rivers said.
- Porter has not been carrying his share of the load offensively, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington notes. Porter is averaging just 9.8 PPG while shooting 41.1% from the field and 21.7% from 3-point range.
- Coach Scott Brooks continues to have the full support of the organization despite the club’s poor start. Get all the details here.