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Wizards Fire GM Tommy Sheppard

April 19th, 2023 at 5:53pm CST by Arthur Hill

Tommy Sheppard has been dismissed as general manager and president of the Wizards, the team announced in a press release. The move comes after another disappointing season for Washington, which compiled a 35-47 record and failed to qualify for the play-in tournament.

Sheppard, 53, had been with the organization since 2003, starting as vice president of basketball operations. He had served as GM since 2019 when he was promoted to replace Ernie Grunfeld. He received an extension and a promotion to president of basketball operations after the club got off to a strong start in 2021/22.

The Wizards never won more than 35 games in a season under Sheppard’s tenure and they reached the playoffs just once, advancing through the play-in tournament in 2021 before losing to the Sixers in the first round.

“Failure to make the playoffs the last two seasons was very disappointing to our organization and our fans,” owner Ted Leonsis said in a statement explaining the move (Twitter link from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski).

Sheppard’s departure means someone else will handle key financial decisions in what should be an important summer for Washington. Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis are both expected to turn down their player options for next season and test free agency, although Porzingis is involved in extension talks with the team.

The new GM will also try to improve on Sheppard’s performance in the draft, as Washington holds the No. 8 spot heading into next month’s lottery.

Pelicans general manager Trajan Langdon and Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly are names to watch as the Wizards launch their search for Sheppard’s replacement, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.

The front office shakeup won’t affect Wes Unseld Jr., who just completed his second season as head coach, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who hears from sources that Leonsis remains a strong supporter of Unseld.

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Beal Faces Lawsuit; Big Offseason Ahead For Avdija

April 19th, 2023 at 2:31pm CST by Luke Adams
  • One of the fans involved in a postgame altercation with Bradley Beal in Orlando last month has filed a lawsuit against the Wizards guard, alleging battery and assault and seeking damages exceeding $50,000, reports David Purdum of ESPN.com. We provided more details on that incident in a pair of previous stories.
  • Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington explores what lies ahead this offseason for Wizards forward Deni Avdija, who will be extension-eligible and who plans to work out with teammate Kristaps Porzingis. “I think it needs to be more consistent,” Avdija said of his priorities going forward. “I showed how I can help the team in a variety of ways, but also on bad nights I need to find a way to get back into the game.”
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2023 NBA Draft Tiebreaker Results

April 17th, 2023 at 4:33pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Tiebreakers among teams with identical regular-season records were broken on Monday through random drawings to determine the order for this year’s draft prior to the lottery.

The results of the drawings were as follows:

  • The Rockets (No. 2) won a tiebreaker with the Spurs (No. 3).
    • Note: The lottery odds remain the same for both teams. The Rockets will draft ahead of the Spurs if neither lands in the top four.
  • The Pacers (No. 7) won a tiebreaker with the Wizards (No. 8).
    • Note: The Pacers will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Wizards.
  • The Bulls (No. 11) won a tiebreaker with the Thunder (No. 12).
    • Note: The Bulls will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Thunder. Chicago’s pick will be conveyed to the Magic if it doesn’t move into the top four.
  • The Heat (No. 18) won a tiebreaker with the Warriors (No. 19, who won a tiebreaker with the Clippers (No. 20).
    • Note: The Clippers’ pick will be conveyed to the Rockets.
  • The Suns (No. 21) won a tiebreaker with the Nets (No. 22).
    • Note: The result is negligible for the first round, since the Suns’ pick was traded to the Nets.
  • The Grizzlies (No. 25) won a tiebreaker with the Cavaliers (No. 26).
    • Note: The Cavaliers’ pick will be conveyed to the Pacers.

In the case of tiebreakers, second round order is the reverse of first round order except for the lottery teams. In that case, the second-round order could still change, depending on which team finishes higher in the lottery.

In the case of the three-way tie at 18-20, the Clippers will pick first in the second round at No. 48, followed by the Warriors at No. 49 and the Heat at No. 50. Golden State’s pick has been traded to the Cavaliers, while Miami’s pick will be conveyed to the Thunder or Pacers, depending on the lottery results.

The tiebreaker between the Rockets and Spurs didn’t decide which team gets the Rockets’ second-round pick, which is top-32 protected. It will be conveyed to either the Pacers or Celtics once the lottery is conducted.

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Johnny Davis Improved After All-Star Break

April 16th, 2023 at 7:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • Wizards guard Johnny Davis didn’t resemble a lottery pick most of his rookie season and spent a good portion of it in the G League. However, there were some encouraging signs after the All-Star break, Ava Wallace of the Washington Post notes. In the 13 NBA games Davis played before the All-Star break, he averaged 1.2 points in 4.7 minutes. In the 15 games he played after the break, he averaged 9.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in 24.1 minutes. “Definitely a lot of ups and downs,” Davis said.
  • Wizards owner Ted Leonsis needs to turn up the heat on front executives, the coaching staff and his star players, David Aldridge of The Athletic opines. Leonsis must hold everyone accountable as the franchise continues to wallow in mediocrity. GM Tommy Sheppard and coach Wes Unseld Jr. need to produce results next season or else lose their jobs, Aldridge adds.
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NBAGL Announces 2022/23 All-League Awards

April 13th, 2023 at 9:30pm CST by Rory Maher

The NBA G League named the recipients of its All-League, All-Rookie, and All-Defensive teams on Thursday (all Twitter links found here). Many of the honorees are on standard NBA or two-way contracts.

Here’s the full list:

All-NBA G League First Team

All-NBA G League Second Team

All-NBA G League Third Team

NBAGL All-Defensive Team

NBAGL All-Rookie Team

  • Kenneth Lofton
  • Lester Quinones – Santa Cruz Warriors *
    • Note: Quinones placed second in ROY voting.
  • Darius Days
    • Note: Days placed third in ROY voting.
  • Jamaree Bouyea
  • Moussa Diabate

(^ denotes standard NBA contract)

(* denotes two-way contract)

(# Bouyea signed 10-day deals with the Heat and Wizards, but is now an NBA free agent)

Both Dunn and Samanic signed standard contracts with the Jazz, while Harrison signed with the Lakers at the very end of the season after playing with Portland on a 10-day deal. Duke and Lofton recently had their two-way contracts converted into standard deals.

Cooper, Chiozza and Anderson all hold NBA experience as well. Cooper spent 2021/22 — his rookie season — on a two-way deal with the Hawks; Chiozza has played for the Rockets, Nets and Warriors, and recently signed with a Spanish team; Anderson has appeared in 242 NBA games with six teams in as many seasons.

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Eastern Notes: Dinwiddie, Kuzma, Giannis, J. Brown, Hawks

April 13th, 2023 at 8:02am CST by Luke Adams

Former Wizards teammates Spencer Dinwiddie and Kyle Kuzma traded a couple barbs back in January after Washington defeated Dinwiddie’s Mavericks, with each casting doubt on the other’s commitment to playing “winning basketball.” Now a member of the Nets, Dinwiddie was asked during an appearance on FanDuel TV (Twitter video link) about that exchange and didn’t hesitate to reignite his beef with Kuzma, questioning whether the Wizards forward has his priorities straight.

“There’s a lot of guys in the NBA that really pour their heart and soul into basketball, are willing to do whatever it takes to win,” Dinwiddie said. “There are a lot of guys that have different things that drive or motivate them. I think if we look at him and the way he approaches life, fame, all that stuff, we can see that his priorities tend to vary. That’s why he dresses the way he does, he approaches basketball the way he does, the comments he makes.

“Like I said with the Draymond (Green) quote, ‘Insecurity is loud.’ You know that you’re there shooting shots to try to get a contract. You’re probably not even a third star really on a good team, because if you were, the Lakers would’ve kept you.”

Several hours later, Kuzma fired back in a Twitter thread, writing that he and the Wizards have “so much real estate on Dinsh–tie island.” Kuzma criticized Dinwiddie for being traded just months after he signed a three-year, $54MM contract in D.C. and suggested that his Nets are only in the postseason because of the pre-Dinwiddie success the team had with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

Dinwiddie and Kuzma won’t face each other until sometime next season, but the latest grenades lobbed in their back-and-forth war of words should make things all the more interesting when that happens.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

  • Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo tells Lori Nickel of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he legitimately considered the possibility of walking away from the NBA due to the mental health toll he was dealing with in 2020. “I had that conversation – yes – with the front office,” Antetokounmpo said. “And, you know, very normally, everybody is looking at me like I was crazy. ‘You just signed the largest contract in NBA history and you want to walk away from the game and all that money?’ … But I don’t care about that. I care about joy. I’m a joyful person.”
  • Jaylen Brown would become eligible for a super-max extension if he makes an All-NBA team this spring, and Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens is hoping that happens, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “I think both Jayson (Tatum) and Jaylen should be on the All-NBA team,” Stevens said. “I think what they’ve done throughout the course of this year — and you asked about Jaylen so I’ll talk about Jaylen in particular — he’s also really played his best basketball, I think, in the last couple of months, and he was an obvious All-Star right out of the gate.”
  • Former Octagon agent Chris Emens has joined the Hawks‘ front office in an advisory role, reports Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic (Twitter link). Emens represented Hawks general manager Landry Fields during Fields’ playing days, Vorkunov notes.
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Wizards Notes: Beal, Porzingis, Offseason Needs

April 11th, 2023 at 1:41pm CST by Luke Adams

After completing the first season of his five-year, $251MM contract with the Wizards, Bradley Beal admitted that it was a “disappointing” season for the team, which finished with a 35-47 record. However, as Ava Wallace of The Washington Post writes, Beal said on Monday that he doesn’t intend to ask for a trade or to use his no-trade clause as a “trump card” to force the Wizards into certain roster moves.

“That’s an unnecessary thing for me to do. … That’s not me; that’s beneath me,” Beal said. “I’m definitely frustrated. I’m also at peace with where I am and who we are and what we need to do to be better. It’s nothing I can do — I can’t control it. I’m not going to sit here and cuss everybody out. We know where we failed and how we have to be better, and we have to do so. And there’s never one time where I’m like: ‘You know what? I’m out of here.’ But I very well could because I do have the no-trade. But I don’t use it as a trump, no.”

Beal added that he fully expects to be in D.C. next fall and that “you guys would hear” if he wanted out, per Wallace.

He also spoke on Monday about the police investigation that was launched into a postgame altercation with a fan in Orlando last month. The fan involved in that incident reportedly yelled at and insulted Beal because he had lost a bet on the game.

“Nobody wants to lose money. I get it. If you keep it about sports, I’m all for it,” Beal said (link via ESPN.com). “But I think it’s when people start getting personal, talking about your family, talking about your character, your integrity towards the game. I think all of that, we can save it. We can really keep those comments to ourselves.”

Here’s more on the Wizards:

  • After Wizards president of basketball operations Tommy Sheppard reiterated his desire to sign Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma to new contracts this summer, Porzingis reciprocated that interest during his own end-of-season media session, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. “I feel at home here. Believe it or not, I love the city,” Porzingis said. “I know a lot of people are saying it’s not a sexy destination for a lot of free agents, but I really like the city.” Porzingis holds a player option for 2023/24 — he’d be extension-eligible this offseason if he opts in and would need to negotiate a new deal if he opts out. He said he’ll meet with his representatives on Tuesday to begin discussing the decision.
  • In a separate NBC Sports Washington story, Hughes identifies several of the Wizards’ most pressing offseason needs, including volume three-point shooting, shot creation, and more athleticism on the perimeter.
  • Arguing that the Wizards’ 2022/23 season should be viewed as an abject failure, Josh Robbins of The Athletic notes that the team’s management and ownership appear to still be committed to their “middle-build” philosophy rather than opting for a teardown.
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Wizards Notes: Kuzma, Porzingis, Gafford, Future

April 8th, 2023 at 5:24pm CST by Arthur Hill

Kyle Kuzma knows he’ll get a huge contract wherever he goes in free agency, so that won’t be the main factor when he makes his decision on where to play, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. Keeping Kuzma, who held an exit interview with team president Tommy Sheppard on Saturday, will be one of Washington’s top offseason priorities. The 27-year-old forward plans to listen to offers from all interested teams and will reach a final decision based on what he believes is best for his future.

“It’s not about money, I’m going to get paid regardless anywhere [I go] and here, too,” Kuzma said. “It’s about can I come into work every day and be the best version of myself, can I help lead guys, can I make other players better, can I light up rooms. All those things matter when you’re trying to be successful.”

Hughes notes that Kuzma has achieved his greatest NBA success during the two years he has spent with the Wizards. His stats have improved compared to his four seasons with the Lakers, and his overall game has expanded. Kuzma told reporters he has enjoyed his time in Washington and indicated that two years of losing might not cause him to seek a more successful franchise.

“I think you have to have patience,” he said. “I believe to certain extents what guys like (Damian Lillard) and even (Bradley Beal have said), those guys where they talk about how the grass is not always greener and stuff. Just because you go to a contender doesn’t mean you’re going to win a championship right away because health can be a factor.”

There’s more from Washington:

  • Kristaps Porzingis, who’s involved in extension talks with the Wizards, said he can foresee a long-term future with the team, per Ava Wallace of The Washington Post. Porzingis posted career highs in scoring and field goals percentage this season while appearing in 65 games, his largest total since 2016/17. “This was a great opportunity for me last season when I got traded here,” he said. “This was one of the places that I was looking at and I thought I could fit there very well, and, yeah, it’s been great. I believe this is a great place for me also, going forward.”
  • The Wizards will add center Daniel Gafford to their lengthy inactive list for the season finale on Sunday, tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic.
  • Failing to reach the play-in tournament marked another disappointing season in Washington, states Candace Buckner of The Washington Post, who adds that a late-season tank left the team with only a remote chance to land one of the draft’s top prizes. Buckner reviews the season to determine what went wrong for the Wizards and whether there’s reason to believe the future will be any brighter.
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Wizards To Retain Wes Unseld Jr. For 2023/24

April 5th, 2023 at 7:32am CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards were officially eliminated from the postseason race on Tuesday night and have fallen short of their preseason expectations, but the team’s disappointing season won’t cost head coach Wes Unseld Jr. his job.

Unseld will continue to hold his position as Washington’s coach entering the 2023/24 season, reports Josh Robbins of The Athletic. President of basketball operations Tommy Sheppard confirmed as much on Tuesday.

“He is our coach moving forward,” Sheppard said of Unseld.

Unseld, whose contract runs through the 2024/25 season, was hired by the Wizards to replace Scott Brooks in 2021. In his two seasons since taking the head coaching reins, Unseld has led the team to a 69-92 (.429) overall record and has missed the postseason in back-to-back years.

As Robbins notes, Unseld arrived in D.C. with a reputation as a defensive tactician, but hasn’t improved Washington’s unit, which placed 20th in defensive rating in the last season under Brooks. That ranking dipped to No. 25 last season and is at No. 20 again this year.

Despite the team’s underwhelming performance under Unseld, he has supporters, according to Robbins, who suggests that the Wizards’ relative lack of two-way players and injury woes have been factors in their struggles. Bradley Beal, Kristaps Porzingis, and Kyle Kuzma have played together just 35 times this season, Robbins observes, though it’s not a great sign that Washington hasn’t even played particularly well in those games, going just 16-19.

It will be a big offseason for the Wizards, who are expected to attempt to negotiate new contracts with Porzingis and Kuzma and are in position to secure a top-10 pick in the draft lottery. I’d expect the club to enter the fall anticipating a playoff-caliber season, with Unseld facing increased pressure to deliver on those expectations.

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Wizards Retain First-Round Pick

April 4th, 2023 at 5:23pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • The Wizards will retain their 2023 first-round pick by virtue of missing the playoffs, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington notes. The pick this year was lottery protected, stemming from a 2020 trade with the Rockets. The Knicks are now owed the Wizards’ 2024 pick, which is top-12 protected — that protection decreases to top-10 in 2025 and top-eight in 2026. If none of those convey, the Knicks would receive two second-round picks in 2026 and 2027.
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