4 Questions that still hover over the Washington Wizards during hiatus

Will Davis Bertans Be Back?

John Wall will be back eventually. Bradley Beal is under contract for a few more seasons. As is Rui Hachimura. While a few questions may linger about Wall’s return, Beal’s leadership style, or Hachimura’s development, we know those three will be in D.C. for a while.

Davis Bertans, however, has a less certain future with the franchise. It’s no secret the Wizards want to keep Bertans. They’ve made that abundantly clear and doubled down by not dealing the sharpshooter at the trade deadline. He almost certainly would have fetched some assets. Certainly, more than they’ll get if their plan is to let him walk this summer.

But that’s not the plan. Whether things will go according to plan is totally different. It’s still unclear if or how this current hiatus will affect the salary cap next season, but as things stood before play was suspended, the Wizards were on track to have some spending cash this summer. Not a ton, but some. Probably enough to keep Bertans for around $15 million per year. Since they own his Bird Rights,  they could even spend a bit more.

That’d be quite the raise for Bertans, who — in his fourth NBA season — is making $7.25 million. But the payday would be warranted for one of the NBA’s best three-shooters. To a team with a little extra cash burning a hole in their pockets, Bertans could be worth even more than that. After all, Ryan Anderson was once given a four-year/$80 million deal. And Bertans is better than Anderson was.

Both the Wizards and the Latvian Laser have said they want to stay together. But words are just words until there’s ink on the paper. Bertans has said he wants to reel in assists from John Wall next season, but his tune could change after looking at a few offer sheets.

Bertans’ future in Washington has been a question for months already. At this rate, who knows when we’ll get an answer. But when we do, that answer could define the Wizards’ 2020-21 season.