The Washington Wizards weren’t shy about their number one priority this offseason. Well, they did it. Davis Bertans is coming back to D.C.
Davis Bertans was the number one offseason priority for the Washington Wizards. Even before the season was over, Wizards’ GM Tommy Sheppard had made it clear that bringing Bertans back was incredibly important. After a little less than four hours of free agency, the Wizards got it done.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was first to break the good news: Five years, $80 million. The Latvian Laser is back in D.C., everybody!
Free agent forward Davis Bertans has agreed to a 5-year, $80M deal to return to the Washington Wizards, his agent @ArtursKalnitis tells ESPN. Deal includes an ETO after fourth year. One of biggest deals ever for a European-based agent in NBA.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 21, 2020
Bertans’ deal has an AAV of $16 million. It’s a steep price, but a bit less than the $18 million price tag that was rumored, and certainly in the ballpark of what was expected. It’s no surprise that the Wizards made it happen.
Bertans is coming off the best season of his career. During his first season in Washington, Bertans averaged 15.4 points and 4.5 rebounds (both career highs) while shooting 42.4 percent from three (8.7 attempts/game). With Washington, Bertans was thrust into a bigger role than he had ever been in during his three previous seasons with the San Antonio Spurs. He quickly proved just how deadly an offensive weapon he can be, and forced defenses to pick him up whenever he touched the ball, no matter how far he was from the basket. That type of gravity will only be more valuable once John Wall returns, someone Bertans himself has talked eagerly about playing with.
Bertans was priority number one for the Wizards, and it’s great to see them get it done fairly quickly. Offensively, this team already has more firepower than it did last season. They already were a top-half offense during the 2019-20 season. Now it’s time to focus on shoring up the defensive side of the ball. Bertans doesn’t help too much in that department, and the Wizards ranked second to last in defense last season.