- Candace Buckner of The Washington Post opines that although the leadership of John Wall was at times questionable this season for the Wizards, the situation would’ve been helped if Wall was able to play more, using his on-court leadership skills as opposed to trying to lead off the court.
- The Wizards signed forward Otto Porter to a four-year, $107MM contract last offseason. With that increased salary has come increased scrutiny, Candace Buckner of The Washington Post writes. Porter excelled as a three-point shooter in 2017/18 but was criticized for lacking aggressiveness in the fourth quarter.
After locking up Bradley Beal to a maximum-salary contract in 2016, the Wizards committed max deals to two more players during the 2017 offseason. Otto Porter‘s went into effect this past season, while John Wall‘s – which could start at approximately $37.8MM – will begin in 2019/20. Even before Wall’s huge raise hits their cap, the Wizards have very limited flexibility, reducing the club’s options in free agency this summer. It remains to be seen if the trade market can help Washington upgrade its roster.
Here’s where things currently stand for the Wizards financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2018:
Guaranteed Salary
- Otto Porter ($26,011,913)
- Bradley Beal ($25,434,262)
- John Wall ($19,169,800)
- Ian Mahinmi ($15,944,154)
- Marcin Gortat ($13,565,218)
- Markieff Morris ($8,600,000)
- Kelly Oubre ($3,208,630)
- Tomas Satoransky ($3,129,187)
- Martell Webster ($833,333) — Waived via stretch provision
- Total: $115,896,497
Player Options
- Jason Smith ($5,450,000)
- Jodie Meeks ($3,454,500)
- Total: $8,904,500
Team Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- None
Restricted Free Agents
- None
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- Tim Frazier ($3,800,000): Bird rights
- No. 15 overall pick ($2,725,615)
- Chris McCullough ($2,243,326): Bird rights
- Ty Lawson ($1,499,698): Non-Bird rights
- Mike Scott ($1,499,698): Non-Bird rights
- Ramon Sessions ($1,499,698): Non-Bird rights
- Total: $13,268,035
Projected Salary Cap: $101,000,000
Projected Cap Room: None
- The Wizards will be well over the cap threshold again in 2018/19, barring major cuts and/or trades. If we assume Smith and Meeks exercise their player options, the Wizards’ total team salary – taking into account their 10 player contracts, plus cap charges for their first-round pick and an empty roster spot – would get all the way up to $128,357,923.
- That projected team salary isn’t just over the cap — it’s also well over the estimated tax line. So the Wizards may look to cut costs to avoid paying the tax for a team that mustered just two playoff wins.
Note: Rookie scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
- In his end-of-season look at New Orleans’ next moves, Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer suggests that a Cousins/Otto Porter trade would make sense for both the Pelicans and the Wizards. However, as Marks details in his article, a straight-up swap of the two wouldn’t work within CBA rules, so some maneuvering would be required.
The Wizards will have until October to offer Kelly Oubre Jr. a contract extension, but their current financial outlook makes that unlikely. As a result, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington writes, the 22-year-old heads into the offseason with every reason to hone his game; his performance in 2018/19 will determine his next deal.
Oubre Jr. took a step forward in his third season with the Wizards, averaging 11.8 points and 4.5 rebounds in a career high 27.5 minutes per contest. While those aren’t exactly max-contract numbers, he’s an intriguing young piece that could slot in alongside some highly-paid teammates as an additional component of the Wizards’ expensive, homegrown core.
The Wizards will have over $90MM tied up in contracts for John Wall, Bradley Beal and Otto Porter in 2019/20. Oubre Jr. will look to add to that figure by convincing the club to bring him back as a restricted free agent, similarly to how Porter signed his most recent deal back in 2017.
Markieff Morris will be entering the final year of his contract with the Wizards this fall, raising questions about his long-term future in D.C. While Morris’ outlook could change between now and his 2019 free agency, his current preference would be to not only stick with the Wizards beyond his current deal, but also to remain in Washington for several years, as Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington details.
“I would definitely want to finish my career here,” Morris said of the Wizards. “I love playing here. I love being in the city that I was basically raised in and playing for this organization.”
After a first-round exit in the postseason this spring, the Wizards will be looking for ways to improve their roster this season, so Morris isn’t necessarily a lock to return. However, his $8.6MM salary makes him a better value than the team’s two centers, Marcin Gortat ($13.57MM) and Ian Mahinmi ($15.94MM).
John Wall would like to see the Wizards make changes to their roster this offseason, and it seems like a safe bet that they’ll do so, since they haven’t been shy about changing up their bench pieces in recent years, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. However, as Hughes outlines, the franchise will also have to make bigger decisions about whether its current core has the necessary qualities to take the Wizards where they want to go.
The Wizards’ starting lineup – Wall, Bradley Beal, Otto Porter, Markieff Morris, and Marcin Gortat – was one of the NBA’s most effective five-man units in 2016/17, but didn’t repeat that success this past season due to health issues and general inconsistency. Those five players are expensive, and Morris and Gortat are entering contract years, so making changes at power forward and/or center wouldn’t be a surprise, according to Hughes. Anything beyond that would qualify as a major shake-up.
Here’s more on the Wizards:
- In his end-of-season comments to the media, head coach Scott Brooks expressed a desire for Washington to become a better three-point shooting club. In order to achieve that goal, the Wizards will have to add more shooters to their roster this offseason, particularly with Jodie Meeks set to serve the remaining 19 games of his suspension to open the year, writes Candace Buckner of The Washington Post.
- After a successful comeback season – including a solid performance in the playoffs – Mike Scott has set himself up well for free agency this summer, says Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. Scott, who may be in line for a multiyear deal, said at season’s end that he’d be happy with a role similar to the one he played this season, per Hughes.
- In a separate article for NBC Sports Washington, Hughes examines the next steps for Otto Porter to expand his game and continue to make good on his maximum-salary contract.
Without any fanfare, the Wizards recently extended the contract of team president Ernie Grunfeld, according to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post.
Majority owner Ted Leonsis refused to disclose the terms of the extension, but it will keep Grunfeld with the organization at least through the end of the 2018/19 season. He ranks fourth in the league in tenure, Buckner notes, trailing only Miami’s Pat Riley, San Antonio’s R.C. Buford and Boston’s Danny Ainge.
Unlike those others, Grunfeld has been able to hold onto his job without a stellar track record. The Wizards have eight playoff appearances during his 15 seasons and haven’t advanced past the second round. Washington was the eighth seed this season and was eliminated by Toronto in six games.
Buckner outlines the huge task ahead of Grunfeld this offseason as he tries to restructure a team with pressing cap concerns. The Wizards topped the luxury tax for the first time this season after matching an offer sheet to Otto Porter and are already hovering near next year’s tax line with $124MM in committed salary, not including their No. 15 draft pick.
Fresh off a loss to the Raptors in Game 6 of the First Round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, Wizards’ point guard John Wall spoke at length on Saturday about changes he’d like to see to the Wizards’ roster next season, writes Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. When asked what type of players should be added to the roster, Wall pulled no punches, yet was quick to assure that his postseason evaluation was not directed at any particular teammates.
“There’s a lot that we can use. I really don’t have to say certain positions. There are certain things that people who have been around the team understand what we could use to help our team. It’s not throwing shade to anybody that is on our team because everyone that is on our roster gave everything they have to make it work and fit with the team, but at the same time, when it’s not working and then you try and you try and you try and it keeps failing over and over, then you have to make certain adjustments and certain changes.”
Wall further elaborated, telling reporters he is in support of the Wizards bringing in an “athletic big”, which could of course be interpreted as a slight at Marcin Gortat, who clashed with Wall when Wall was injured earlier this season, and little-used big man Ian Mahinmi who, in hindsight, was grossly overpaid in the spend-happy summer of 2016. Combined, Gortat and Mahinmi will make just north of $29.5MM next season.
Unfortunately for the Wizards, adding worthwhile free agents this offseason, per Wall’s imploring, will be no easy task. Washington already has nearly $116MM tied up in guaranteed contracts for 2018/19, not counting player options for Jason Smith and Jodie Meeks. Should both players opt in, the Wizards payroll would reach $124.8MM – $1.8MM more than next year’s projected luxury tax threshold of $123MM and nearing the apron – before free agency even begins.
Given that the $124.8MM figure only includes 10 players, the Wizards best tool will likely be their taxpayer mid-level exception, which is projected to be about $3.3MM less than the non-taxpayer mid-level exception and limited to three seasons rather than four. Players looking to cash in on a MLE deal this offseason stand to make about an additional $19.2MM over the life of a non-taxpayer MLE contract, thereby lessening the Wizards’ chances of luring meaning free agents to the nation’s capital this summer. For his part, Wall thinks players should nevertheless entertain the idea of coming to Washington.
“I think those guys that are watching and seeing understand what they can add and what we might need to make our team better to finally get over the second round or get through the first round like we didn’t this year.”
Another early postseason exit for the Wizards means another offseason full of questions for the organization and All-Star John Wall. After losing to the Raptors in six games, Wall and other members of the Wizards met with the media for an end-of-season press conference. Wall vocalized his frustrations with the team and what he thinks can be done to improve the situation.
As Candance Bucker of The Washington Post writes, Wall called out his teammates and challenged the front office to put together a team that is on the same page. The 27-year-old appeared in just 41 games this season after knee surgery sidelined him for several months. In that time, he and teammate Marcin Gortat exchanged words in the press, which both men downplayed. Washington backed its way into the postseason, ending up with the eighth seed.
The entire story is worth reading, but here are some highlights from Wall’s media session:
On his teammates being on the same page:
“I don’t put the pressure on everybody else. I put the pressure on myself because I am that franchise guy. I am the guy that has to be the leader of the team, that has to get everybody better, make everybody better on my team. At the same time, if I’m doing my part, the other 14 guys on my team have to do their part at getting better every year. Just being true to the team. Our problem at a lot times is guys don’t understand their role and respect their role.”
What the Wizards need to improve their roster:
“It’s pretty obvious. I don’t need to point it out. I think the way the league is going, you need athletic bigs, you need scoring off the bench, you need all of those types of things. We don’t really have an athletic big.”
On the front office and what it needs to do this summer:
“I don’t know. It’s up to them to make the decision. Like I said, whoever comes back, whoever stays, what it is, we deal with it because those are our teammates. Those guys do the best they can. They have the ability to help us out as much as possible. We know what it is, what the situations are. That’s up to the front office to decide. If they want to make any changes or keep guys. At the same time, you kind of know what guys want to be here from what people have said in the past or what they haven’t said.”
On his teammates understanding their role:
“Some people don’t understand their roles, so if you don’t understand your role and you think you deserve a bigger role, that’s not about to happen.”