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Wizards Exercise Wes Unseld Jr.’s Option For 2024/25

October 2nd, 2023 at 3:33pm CST by Rory Maher

The Wizards have a new front office regime, but their head coach appears to be safe. According to Ava Wallace of The Washington Post, the Wizards have exercised their option on Wes Unseld Jr.‘s contract for 2024/25.

Unseld signed a four-year deal with a team option in the final season when he was hired in 2021. The Wizards have gone 35-47 in each of his two seasons at the helm, a .427 win/loss percentage.

A Maryland native, Unseld got his NBA start with Washington as an assistant. He also had assistant jobs with Golden State, Orlando and Denver before earning his first head coaching job with the Wizards a couple years ago.

There has been some speculation that Unseld might be on the hot seat due to the team’s lackluster results in his first two seasons. However, as Wallace writes, with the Wizards in the midst of a rebuild, the new front office has publicly shown support for the 48-year-old head coach.

“Whether it’s in selecting players, participating in the conversation vis-à-vis trades, he’s just been awesome,” president Michael Winger said last week of Unseld. “And from a coaching perspective, he’s going to coach his butt off. We know that. He’s registered with us countless times how excited he is about this team, how excited he is to figure out — it’s going to be really hard for him — but figuring out how to blend those young players with the vets.

“We’re going to have streaks. We’re going to have ebbs and flows throughout the course of the season. There’s no evaluation on that kind of thing. If our young players are getting better, if our vets are contributing, if the culture is in a good place, I think that Wes is doing exactly the job that Wes wants to do.”

Wizards’ Gafford, Shamet Dealing With Injuries

October 1st, 2023 at 6:41pm CST by Dana Gauruder

With training camp about to begin, the Wizards are dealing with a pair of new injuries.

Center Daniel Gafford injured an elbow while falling during a pickup game, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets. Gafford will not require surgery but he’s expected to be sidelined for two-to-four weeks.

Guard Landry Shamet recently sustained a broken big toe and will also miss approximately two-to-four weeks, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.

That puts the availability for both players for opening night very much in doubt.

Gafford, who turned 25 on Sunday, started 47 of 78 games last season. He averaged 9.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 20.6 minutes. Gafford projects to be the team’s starter in the middle when he returns, with Mike Muscala and Taj Gibson backing him up.

Shamet was acquired in the Bradley Beal blockbuster and is expected to back up Jordan Poole at the shooting guard spot. Shamet, a career 38.8% 3-point shooter, averaged 8.7 points and 2.3 assists last season in 40 games with the Suns.

Shamet is signed through the 2025/26 season, but his salary next season isn’t guaranteed and there’s a club option on the final year.

Wizards Sign Jules Bernard, Waive Dejan Vasiljevic

October 1st, 2023 at 5:42pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Wizards have signed Jules Bernard to an Exhibit 10 contract and placed Dejan Vasiljevic on waivers, the team tweets.

Bernard went undrafted in 2022 out of UCLA. He spent most of last season with the Wizards’ NBA G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go. He averaged 15.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 32 G League games.

The 6’6” swingman appeared in four games for Washington’s Summer League team in July. He had a brief stint with the Pistons last year before getting waived during training camp.

Vasiljevic agreed to an Exhibit 10 contract two weeks ago. The former Miami Hurricanes guard has played for the Sydney Kings of Australia’s NBL since 2020 after going undrafted by NBA clubs.

In 36 games last season, Vasiljevic averaged 13.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. The 26-year-old opted out of his contract with the Australian club following the season.

If he clears waivers and joins the Wizards’ G League team for 60 days, he’ll be eligible for a bonus up to $75K.

Wizards Notes: Winger, Coulibaly, Poole, Coaching Staff

September 26th, 2023 at 9:33pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Wizards team president Michael Winger won’t use the word rebuild but he admits the franchise will take meticulous steps to become a perennial contender in the Eastern Conference, according to Ava Wallace of the Washington Post.

“We want to build an organization that develops and can support a sustainably great team. We don’t want to be a flash in the pan,” he said. “We don’t want to be a one-hit wonder. We want to build the right way. We’ve studied all the teams in the league, historically and currently, that have done it what we would characterize as the right way. And it is a very heavy lift. Hard decisions, a lot of patience, an intense focus on player development, an intense focus on research, and that’s what we are going to do.”

We have more on the Wizards:

In the same story, Wallace reports that general manager Will Dawkins believes lottery pick Bilal Coulibaly should jump right into the rotation. “Being the third-youngest player in the league, he’s got a competitiveness on the defensive end that I think will allow him to get on the floor right away,” Dawkins said. “The biggest thing with him is not skipping any steps, not rushing him, allowing him to declare who he is as a player and understanding that his prime is five, six, seven years down the line from now.”
Jordan Poole will see his offensive role expand with the Wizards after playing mostly at the wing with the Warriors, Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports Network tweets. “You’ll see him play on the ball more,” Dawkins said.
The Wizards have officially announced their assistant coaching staff under Wes Unseld Jr. via a press release. As previously reported, they’ve added Brian Keefe and David Vanterpool as assistant coaches and Sammy Gelfand as assistant coach/analytics. They’ll join returnees Joseph Blair, Mike Miller, Zach Guthrie and James Posey. Landon Tatum will head the player development staff and Daniel Villarreal will serve as Washington’s head video coordinator. Cody Toppert has been named head coach of the Capital City Go-Go, the Wizards’ NBA G League affiliate.

Dunleavy: Paul Trade Came Together Quickly

September 26th, 2023 at 8:12pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The trade that brought Chris Paul to the Warriors came to fruition in a short span of time, general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. told The Athletic duo of Sam Amick and Anthony Slater.

The trade was officially completed in early July. The Wizards, who acquired Paul in the Bradley Beal blockbuster with the Suns, received guards Jordan Poole and Ryan Rollins, forward Patrick Baldwin Jr., the Warriors’ 2030 first-round pick (top-20 protected), Golden State’s 2027 second-round pick, and cash.

“The CP stuff developed over maybe a week or 10 days. That was not a long-term deal that we were working on,” Dunleavy said. “It happened fast. (But) I think this league, and this job is all about capitalizing on time horizons. And right now, we’re in the thick of a period where we feel like we can still contend, and we want to take advantage of that.”

The Warriors shed Poole’s four-year, $123MM+ contract in the deal. The 38-year-old Paul has a non-guaranteed $30MM contract for the 2024/25 season, and that factored into the decision to bring in the future Hall of Famer.

“Coming off a championship, you know, just two years ago, I think we all feel like we’re still right there,” Dunleavy said. “And so to make a move to bring in Chris was, I mean, some may see it as short-sighted, short-term. But yeah, it helps us win now and then it gives us some future financial flexibility.”

Dunleavy and other members of the front office began pondering whether to bring in Paul when the Suns considered waiving or buying him out before he was dealt to Washington. They initially thought of pursuing Paul if he was placed on waivers and became a free agent through that process. It eventually morphed into trade discussions with the Wizards.

“We identified him as a guy we thought could help our team. And the reason that was was just his experience, his leadership,” Dunleavy said. “We struggled last year and in years past with taking care of the ball. We struggled sometimes at the end of games with decision-making. So we felt like ‘Yeah, Chris is a little bit older. But he fits with our group, and he can help us in some areas that we’re deficient in. So it started to make sense.”

The team’s core players, including Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, quickly warmed to the idea of bringing in Paul, even though it may create some awkwardness with Curry and Green having been the team’s main play-makers for so many seasons.

“I don’t have a whole lot of worries about that,” Dunleavy said. “But I think just the common thread of competitiveness, intelligence and just being adults, those things make me believe that this thing can work out. I think for those guys, Draymond (and) Steph, especially, like you said, they’ve been through the wars with Chris for so many years and Chris the same way, that I think it came down to just that initial idea of it. There’s a little bit of a shock. And then once you settle in and think about it, and the ways that it would work, I think they quickly came back to, ‘This is kind of a no-brainer.’”

Corey Kispert Is Already One Of The League's Best Three-Point Shooters

September 25th, 2023 at 9:21am CST by Arthur Hill

Wizards swingman Corey Kispert established himself as one of the NBA’s best three-point shooters during his second season, writes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Robbins consulted several NBA scouts to get their view of Kispert, who connected at 42.4% from long distance last year. “The one thing you want to look for often with young guys is: Does he have an elite skill? Does he have something that the coaches can rely on? (Does he have a skill where) they can say, ‘We’re going to put him out there and we know for sure he can do this,’” one scout said. “And Corey does, right? No one’s going to question his ability to shoot.”

Southeast Notes: Cain, Toppert, Hield

September 24th, 2023 at 1:50pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

With the state of the Heat‘s roster still very much in flux, two-way small forward Jamal Cain is still hoping for a promotion to a standard contract, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

The 6’7″ swingman out of Oakland signed his second straight two-way deal with the club this summer. At present, 13 players are inked to the team’s standard 15-man roster, including 12 on guaranteed contracts, so at least one more addition will be needed before the regular season tips off.

For his part, Cain is confident his game has grown during the offseason and clearly seems to hope he can succeed with more run at the next level.

“I feel like I’ve improved a lot on my on-ball defense and being able to guard bigger players and holding my ground,” Cain said. “And on offense I think I’ve done a better job with my shot selection, being a better shooter and just being a better decision maker with the ball. And, again, always wanted to be stronger, because I’m not the biggest guy.”

Across 18 regular season contests with Miami last year, Cain averaged 5.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 0.6 steals per night. In 15 contests with Miami’s NBAGL club, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Cain averaged 22.1 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.3 SPG and 0.5 BPG.

There’s more out of the Southeast Division:

In a reader mailbag, Winderman responds to a question about whether or not Pacers shooting guard Buddy Hield could be a contingency trade plan for the Heat, should the club be unable to secure the services of Trail Blazers All-Star point guard Damian Lillard. Winderman writes that, while Hield could help Miami, he is not the superstar all-level scorer Lillard is, and his $18.6MM salary may be a bit prohibitive for further team building.
The Wizards’ NBA G League affiliate club, the Capital City Go-Go, have officially announced the hiring of Cody Toppert to be the organization’s fourth head coach, per a team press statement. Toppert’s hiring was initially reported earlier this month.
In case you missed it, Hoops Rumors’ Luke Adams examined the full team rosters of the entire Southeast Division ahead of training camp.

Pre-Camp Roster Snapshot: Southeast Division

September 23rd, 2023 at 2:31pm CST by Luke Adams

Hoops Rumors is in the process of taking a closer look at each NBA team’s current roster situation, evaluating which clubs still have some moves to make and which ones seem most prepared for training camp to begin.

This series is meant to provide a snapshot of each team’s roster right now, so these articles won’t be updated in the coming weeks as more signings, trades, and cuts are made. You can follow our roster counts page to keep tabs on teams’ open spots as opening night nears.

We’re continuing our pre-camp Roster Snapshot series today with the Southeast Division. Let’s dive in…

Atlanta Hawks

Players on guaranteed standard contracts: 15
- Saddiq Bey, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kobe Bufkin, Clint Capela, Bruno Fernando, AJ Griffin, Mouhamed Gueye, De’Andre Hunter, Jalen Johnson, Garrison Mathews, Wesley Matthews, Patty Mills, Dejounte Murray, Onyeka Okongwu, Trae Young
Players on two-way contracts: 3
- Trent Forrest, Seth Lundy, Miles Norris
Players who have reportedly reached contract agreements: 2
- Jarkel Joiner (training camp), David Singleton (training camp)

Capela and Hunter were among the Hawks veterans whose names frequently surfaced in trade rumors earlier in the summer, and when Atlanta acquired Mills, it wasn’t clear whether the move was just about saving some money or if the team intended to keep him.

But all three players remain on the roster with training camp around the corner and seem likely to start the season as Hawks. Barring a late change of direction, Atlanta’s roster looks good to go for opening night.

Charlotte Hornets

Players on guaranteed standard contracts: 13
- LaMelo Ball, James Bouknight, Miles Bridges, Gordon Hayward, Kai Jones, Cody Martin, Bryce McGowens, Brandon Miller, Nick Richards, Terry Rozier, Nick Smith Jr., P.J. Washington, Mark Williams
Players on non-guaranteed standard contracts: 2
- Frank Ntilikina ($200K partial guarantee), JT Thor
Players on Exhibit 10 contracts: 4
- Angelo Allegri, Nathan Mensah, Tre Scott, Jaylen Sims
Players on two-way contracts: 2
- Amari Bailey, Leaky Black
Players who have reportedly reached contract agreements: 1
- R.J. Hunter (training camp)

It appears No. 31 overall pick James Nnaji will be sticking with Barcelona for the 2023/24 season rather than joining the Hornets. And while Theo Maledon is one of the final restricted free agents left on the market, his qualifying offer is for a two-way contract and Charlotte appears to holding a two-way slot open for him.

That puts Ntilikina and Thor in position to join the 13 Hornets with guaranteed salaries on the 15-man roster to open the season.

Miami Heat

Players on guaranteed standard contracts: 12
- Bam Adebayo, Thomas Bryant, Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, Haywood Highsmith, Jaime Jaquez, Nikola Jovic, Kevin Love, Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Josh Richardson, Duncan Robinson
Players on non-guaranteed standard contracts: 1
- Orlando Robinson ($75K partial guarantee)
Players on Exhibit 10 contracts: 5
- Justin Champagnie, Caleb Daniels, Drew Peterson, Cole Swider, Alondes Williams
Players on two-way contracts: 3
- Jamaree Bouyea, Jamal Cain, Dru Smith

Despite an apparent lack of involvement in the recent Damian Lillard trade talks, the Heat remain the odds-on favorites to land the star point guard. If that happens, some additional moves will probably be necessary to fill out the roster, since Miami would almost certainly send out more players than it receives in any deal for Lillard.

If no Lillard trade materializes, the Heat could end up having a pretty quiet preseason. They’d need to retain Orlando Robinson and add a 14th man to their standard roster in order to meet the regular season minimum. In that scenario, Cain would be a solid candidate for a promotion, which would open up a two-way slot for one of the Exhibit 10 camp invitees. The club could also consider adding a veteran free agent such as Goran Dragic.

Orlando Magic

Players on guaranteed standard contracts: 14
- Cole Anthony, Paolo Banchero, Goga Bitadze, Anthony Black, Wendell Carter Jr., Markelle Fultz, Gary Harris, Caleb Houstan, Jett Howard, Joe Ingles, Chuma Okeke, Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, Moritz Wagner
Players on non-guaranteed standard contracts: 1
- Jonathan Isaac ($7.6MM partial guarantee)
Players on Exhibit 10 contracts: 3
- Mac McClung, Trevelin Queen, Brandon Williams
Players on two-way contracts: 2
- Kevon Harris, Admiral Schofield
Players who have reportedly reached contract agreements: 1
- Miye Oni (training camp)

There’s no indication that the Magic will part ways with Isaac, so it seems safe to pencil him in for the final spot on the 15-man roster. Orlando’s two-way slots could be more up in the air, since Harris is a carryover from last season and may not hang onto his spot if some of the team’s camp invitees make strong impressions. It wouldn’t be a surprise if McClung and/or Queen end up being converted to a two-way deal.

Washington Wizards

Players on guaranteed standard contracts: 17
- Deni Avdija, Patrick Baldwin, Xavier Cooks, Bilal Coulibaly, Johnny Davis, Daniel Gafford, Danilo Gallinari, Taj Gibson, Anthony Gill, Tyus Jones, Corey Kispert, Kyle Kuzma, Mike Muscala, Jordan Poole, Ryan Rollins, Landry Shamet, Delon Wright
Players on Exhibit 10 contracts: 2
- Chase Audige, Dejan Vasiljevic
Players on two-way contracts: 2
- Jared Butler, Eugene Omoruyi

I examined the Wizards’ roster crunch at length in this week’s exclusive article for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers, concluding that Cooks, Gallinari, and Rollins are some of the players most at risk of being cut if no trades materialize. Washington would likely prefer to get down to 15 players on standard contracts by dealing a couple players, if possible — I expect the club would welcome offers for Shamet and Wright.

If the Wizards don’t have a specific player in mind for the third two-way slot, camp invitees like Audige and Vasiljevic could make their cases for it in the preseason.

Previously:

Wizards Sign Chase Audige To Exhibit 10 Contract

September 21st, 2023 at 4:03pm CST by Rory Maher

The Wizards have signed Chase Audige to an Exhibit 10 contract, the team announced (via Twitter).

Audige went undrafted in June, making him an unrestricted free agent. After spending his freshman year at William & Mary, the 6’4″ guard transferred to Northwestern, playing three more college seasons with the Wildcats.

As a senior in 2022/23, Audige averaged 14.1 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 2.9 APG and 2.4 SPG in 34 games (34.4 MPG), though he struggled with scoring efficiency (.368/.325/.832 shooting line).

Audige played for the Heat’s Summer League team in Las Vegas, averaging 5.4 PPG, 1.4 APG and 1.2 SPG over five games (14.0 MPG). Miami reportedly had interest in signing him to an Exhibit 10 deal ahead of training camp, but Audige decided to accept an Exhibit 10 offer from an unknown team — which turned out to be the Wizards — because he thought he’d have a better shot at making the regular season roster.

The decision makes sense. While Washington’s standard roster will have to be trimmed to 15 before the season begins (it currently has 17 players on guaranteed deals), the Wizards have one two-way slot open, and Exhibit 10 contracts can be converted into two-way deals. The Heat currently do not have a two-way opening.

Audige would also be eligible for a bonus worth up to $75K if he’s waived before the season starts and spends at least 60 days with Washington’s G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go.

The Wizards had 20 players under contract — one shy of the offseason limit — prior to signing Audige, so they won’t have to make another roster move to add him. Their roster is now full ahead of training camp.

Southeast Notes: J. Davis, Oubre, Champagnie, Martin

September 19th, 2023 at 5:56pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Second-year Wizards shooting guard Johnny Davis, the 10th pick out of Wisconsin in the 2022 draft, is hoping to make a bigger impact this year than he did as a rookie. While on a lottery-bound Washington team, Davis struggled to crack the club’s rotation for much of the year, ultimately averaging 5.8 PPG, 2.3 RPG and 1.0 APG in just 28 contests.

Now, Josh Robbins of The Athletic takes stock of how rival scouts feel about the 6’5″ swingman’s NBA future.

“He’s going to have a little bit more of an intense light on him this year just from an evaluation standpoint because the team’s shifted,” one scout said. “It’s not any of his fault or anything, but he’s going to have to prove that he’s ready to play this year quicker than maybe incrementally getting better and showing progress just because everyone’s going to be a little bit under the gun there.”

“In college, I think he was really competitive, really sure of himself, really assertive on the court,” another scout observed. “He got to his spots, got to situations where he could be impactful and effective. He competed on both ends. And certainly early on (in the NBA), it just seemed like for whatever reason, he didn’t have that same level of confidence, and that impacted him overall.”

There’s more out of the Southeast Division:

Rumored to be a suitor for the veteran forward, the Heat did not make a major push for the services of Kelly Oubre in free agency, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald reports (Twitter link). Oubre instead signed a minimum contract with the Sixers earlier this week. An athletic 6’7″ wing, Oubre averaged a career-best 20.3 PPG last season with the Hornets, along with 5.2 RPG, 1.4 SPG and 1.1 APG.
Heat training camp invitee Justin Champagnie is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Miami forward Caleb Martin as an unheralded twin wing making an outsized impact on a playoff hopeful, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Caleb Martin’s twin brother Cody Martin has firmly established himself as a key role player for the Hornets. Champagnie’s twin brother Julian Champagnie, meanwhile, is a developing talent with the Spurs. “We talk about basketball a lot,” Justin said of his brother. “He’ll come tell me about his, and I’ll tell him about mine.” The 6’6″ forward isn’t guaranteed a roster spot, but could force the Heat’s hand with a strong training camp and preseason. “It’s good knowing you actually have an opportunity to make the team or get a two-way, to kick-start your career,” Champagnie said. “And that makes you work harder.”
In case you missed it, trade talks between the Heat and Trail Blazers for Portland All-Star Damian Lillard remain at something of an impasse.