2020 NBA Free Agency: 3 Reasons why the Washington Wizards should sign Nerlens Noel
By Jamal Bedell
The Wizards don’t have a ton of cap space to make any big splashes in free agency this year. Nerlens Noel could be the perfect signing at a bargain price!
The most bizarre draft in NBA history is over. All in all, the Washington Wizards have to feel very pleased with how things unfolded. Deni Avdjia somehow fell right in their laps at the ninth pick.
Then, Near the end of the draft, the Wizards were fortunate enough to have another talented player drop to them. Washington selected Cassius Winston out of Michigan State with the 53rd pick. The Wizards traded Admiral Schofield and Vit Krejci (37th overall pick) to the Thunder for Cassius Winston (53rd overall pick) and a 2024 second-rounder. Winston’s four years of experience at Michigan State give me confidence that he can find a role off the bench almost immediately.
In a shortened offseason, the Washington Wizards must now switch all of their focus to Free Agency. Two days wasn’t much of a turnaround time, but nothing is normal during this pandemic. Washington has $41 million and $28 million tied up to their two All-Stars John Wall and Bradley Beal, respectively. As a result, the Wizards enter free agency with the fourth-lowest amount of available cap space in the NBA.
Washington will have to be strategic with their spending due to their limited funds. Signing veterans to short-term, cap-friendly deals is the logical way to go this offseason. Deni Avdjia and Cassius Winston are great additions from the draft. However, they don’t really do much to improve the Wizards’ second-to-last ranked defense from last year. Washington will have to address this issue in Free Agency. And they can address it by adding free agent Nerlens Noel.