With the season slowly coming to an end, free agency chatter is bound to start up. With little cap space to work with, who could the Washington Wizards target this summer?
As the season progresses, it is looking less and less likely that the Washington Wizards are going to make the 2020 playoffs. Right now, they are 4.5 games out of the 8th seed. There is technically still a chance, but after a rough west coast trip that saw them go 1-3, the odds are not in the Wizards’ favor at the moment.
As the losses continue to pile up, the draft will obviously get a lot of the attention this offseason. Where and who will the Wizards will pick in June?
However, outside of the draft, the Wizards will also have a few dollars to play with once free agency hits. The guys who they may target could have a serious impact next season.
With John Wall set to return and Bradley Beal committing to stay in DC (for now), it sounds like the Wizards are going to go all-in on being competitive and try for a top playoff spot next season.
Assuming that is the plan, the first order of business for the Wizards in free agency will be re-signing Davis Bertans. The Latvian Laser has been an absolute stud this season and it sounds like he and his camp want to stay in DC.
The issue that will arise, however, is how much Davis will cost. Even with Ian Mahinmi coming off the books this summer, The Wizards cap sheet is not ideal and Bertans will be costly. If the Wizards want to keep Bertans, they’ll need to use most, if not all, of their available cap space to re-sign him.
The good thing, however, is that even with limited space, the Wizards will still have the MLE (mid level exception) to use towards free agents. It is slated to be worth roughly $9.5 million dollars that can be used however they please.
With this $9.5 million to use and hopes of playoff contention next season, free agency will be very important for the Washington Wizards.
They will need to find missing pieces at a bargain rate so they will need to be smart!
With that being said, lets take a look at a few options, listed in no particular order.