Washington Wizards: Where is Garrison Mathews?

The 23-year-old Washington Wizards rookie shined through his first 14 games, but has been basically sidelined since he sprained his ankle on January 6th.

How does this stat line sound, Washington Wizards fans?

16.6 points per game, 4.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 42.9 percent shooting from beyond the arc, and 90.6 percent shooting from the charity stripe.

Sound pretty good? Any guesses who that might be?

If you didn’t read the title, you may be inclined to go with someone like Gary Payton II, Shabazz Napier, or even Troy Brown Jr., but you’d be wrong on all fronts. The owner of said stat line is Garrison Mathews in his per 36.

In his first 14 games with the Washington Wizards in his rookie season, Garrison Mathews really showed out at a solid contributor on the bench. Mostly it’s his sharp shooting that we’ve been missing, as he proved deadly from deep, shooting at the aforementioned 42.9 percent clip on 2.6 three attempts per game.

If he played enough games and shot enough threes, that would put him at 9th in the entire NBA.

Or take, for example, what he’s done in the two games in which he received over 20 minutes: 46 points and 14 three-pointers. The dude can shoot the lights out, and if we’re bent on paying Davis Bertans big money this offseason to keep him because of that very skill set to play alongside John Wall, we need to consider giving Garrison Mathews serious burn to see if he can keep up that pace and is a legit deep threat.

Alas, for some odd reason Garrison Mathews has been sidelined with a sprained right ankle since January 6th. He did manage to get into a game for about five minutes on February 7th, where he failed to record a single stat. Why?

The Wizards could really use another shooting guard/small forward to back up Bradley Beal and give TBJ a break, and his shooting would certainly be a blessing for a team that’s come to rely on straight up outscoring their opponents.

One reason the Wizards may be playing coy with their promising young wing is because he happens to be on a two-way contract. On a two-way contract, a player can spend a maximum of 45 days with their NBA team, so the move to keep him on the sidelines may just be a penny-pinching move to preserve those days for the end of the season in order to get a good look.

I couldn’t find how many days he had left on his contract, but every game AND practice Mathews spends with the Washington Wizards, and not their G-League affiliate Capital City Go-Go, counts against the 45 days. By the time the 45 days is up, they either need to sign him to a standard contract or extend a 10-day.

For a full list of two-way players, check here.

I wouldn’t rule out the 10-day option as it would be the cheapest with the least amount of risk and Tommy Sheppard has proven to be a savvy GM from the get-go. Either way, I’d expect we see far more Garrison Mathews in our future.