4 Questions facing the Washington Wizards after the trade deadline
By Jack Skolnik
2. How much will Davis Bertans cost?
This question is one that will soon be answered once free agency hits. However, it is one that should be monitored until then. The Wizards made the executive decision to not trade Davis Bertans at the deadline.
As it has been highlighted here at WoA, there were numerous teams who were interested in Davis. Had the Wizards been willing, they could have definitely traded him for some serious capital. But they did not. So now what?
As it has been said numerous times by GM Tommy Sheppard, the Wizards have every intention of retaining Bertans on a multi-year deal. So how much will he cost?
Davis has been one of, if not, the best shooters in the NBA this season as he is shooting an unreal 43 percent from three and is averaging career highs in almost every category according to Basketball-Reference. Shooting gets you paid in the NBA, so Davis is bound to be a rich man this summer.
The good thing for the Wizards is that when they traded for him last summer they acquired his bird rights, meaning they can go over the cap to re-sign him. So theoretically they can offer him more money than anyone else could. Another positive is it sounds like Davis enjoys being here and wants to stay.
With that being said, reports have varied on how much Bertans will cost, but it sounds like he will command something in the ballpark of $15-18 million this offseason. This is clearly a large number for any team to give to a player, but it will happen.
The Wizards cap sheet as of right now is not the greatest but is beginning to improve. Obviously John Wall’s supermax does not help things, but hindsight won’t help us at the moment.
The Wizards’ current cap sheet, with the addition of Jerome Robinson, puts them at around $100 million committed next season with the cap projected to be about $117 million.
The addition of Bertans will most likely put you right around or a little over the cap if you bring him back on the projected figures from above.
The figure may be large but with the chance to trade him at the deadline, it is clear that Washington wants to have him back, and frankly, they don’t have much of a choice.