Washington Wizards Free Agency 2016: Wizards Sign Casper Ware
By Ben Mehic
Washington Wizards agreed to a training camp deal with free agent point guard, Casper Ware.
Now that training camp is just about a month away, we pretty much know the makeup of every team in the NBA. The big free agency splashes that were going to occur happened in July and now teams are rounding out their rosters with final additions.
Most teams have the majority of their roster spots filled with players on guaranteed contracts.
Counting Jarell Eddie, who almost certainly will return this upcoming season, the Washington Wizards only have two open roster spots. Danuel House, a summer league standout, is also on a partially guaranteed deal.
Washington doesn’t have the cap room nor the roster spots available to convince any potentially game-changing player to join them at this point. Really, most of those players, with the exception of a few that come with baggage, are off the market as well.
The Wizards, like every other team, are going to look for prospects to join them for training camp, knowing that their chances of making the roster are virtually nonexistent.
Casper Ware, a 5-10 point guard who last played in France, will be one of the players that attends camp with the Wizards, according to Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post.
"The Washington Wizards have signed guard Casper Ware to a training camp deal, according to a league source.Ware, 25, spent the end of last season with ASVEL Basket in France, a team owned by San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker. He led the team back from a 2-0 deficit against Strasbourg in the best-of-five championship series in the French league’s top division and was named finals MVP."
As Bontemps also noted, Ware had a cup of coffee in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers before landing a bigger opportunity overseas.
Since John Wall will get most of the minutes at point guard with Trey Burke and Tomas Satoransky splitting time behind the star, I wouldn’t expect Ware to make the roster. That doesn’t mean the training camp tryout won’t lead to something else down the line for Ware, though.
Agents recognize that their clients are essentially used as extra bodies for training camp, but injuries and roster openings happen on a fairly regular basis.
If Ware draws some attention, he can easily get a call from another team in the NBA or possibly even the Washington Wizards if a roster spot becomes available in the future.
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Ware is undersized, but has shown an ability to score. He averaged close to 21 points per game in China. The Wizards will likely add a few more players before the beginning of camp next month.