Washington Wizards: Free Agent Options, Warriors Guard Ian Clark
By Ryan Eugene
Washington Wizards’ main priority this offseason will be revamping their bench this offseason. There are plenty of options available. Is Warriors guard Ian Clark an option?
The Wizards will surely be looking to add depth at the guard position this summer. One of the more intriguing options is Warriors guard Ian Clark. Clark is coming off his best season in the NBA, his first NBA Championship, and a $1 million base salary in 2016-17.
According to most cap experts, Clark will be a casualty of the Warriors expensive offseason, when the team will be resigning max level superstars Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. Clark had a successful, but up and down season, and it’s believed he will be available for a little over the mid-level exception.
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Considering the Wizards’ own tight cap situation, Clark could be a great fit in Washington. After resigning Bojan Bogdanovic and Otto Porter, Washington will be looking for a smaller guard who can play both guard positions, for relatively cheap.
This season, Clark averaged 6.8 points on 37% from three in 14.8 minutes per game. He played 77 of 82 games in the regular season, and 16 of 17 games in the playoffs. His playoff averages were almost identical, at 6.8 points per game on 36.1% shooting from three.
He garnered a lot of attention this season as a role player on the latest superteam. Specifically, he shined on March 11th in a blowout loss to the Spurs. While the four All-Stars rested, Clark got additional minutes off the bench, and scored a career-high 36 points on 15-21 shooting.
Clark would specifically help the Wizards as a shooting guard who has shown he can handle the ball and shoot off-ball. His experience with the Warriors the last two seasons should help to give the Wizards young yet proven players.
Clark is 26 and has been in the NBA for four seasons. He initially gained notice because he was the championship game MVP of the Las Vegas Sumer League when the Warriors won the title in 2013. After scoring 33 points in that game, he signed a contract with Utah. After two seasons with inconsistent minutes, and a seven game stint in Denver, Clark finally got his chance to shine with the Warriors.
Some may pass on Clark, thinking that his performance this season was mostly due to him playing for Golden State, but at his price and skill set, he’d be a great fit in Washington. Depending how other free agent decisions play out, the Wizards may have Tomas Satoransky as the only backup point guard with experience in the NBA. Alongside Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala, Clark had a key ballhandling role with the second unit.
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Additionally, Scott Brooks has a history of developing young guards, and he’d surely accept the job to continue developing a recent NBA Champion. Free Agency starts July 1st, so we’ll have to continue the speculation for the next two weeks.