Washington Wizards: Grading every offseason move

Re-signing Kyle Kuzma for 4 years, $90 million

Grade: A-

Kyle Kuzma’s new contract with the Washington Wizards can go up to $102 million total with incentives. Even if Kuzma hits the incentive benchmarks, this is great value for Washington.

Kuzma can easily outperform this deal and become a bargain contract. With the increasing salary cap, getting a two-way forward in his prime for less than $25 million per year is a clear win for the Wizards.

The most appealing part of this decision to re-sign Kuzma for Washington is how attractive it makes Kuzma on the trade market. A lot of playoff teams have a hole in their forward spots, and as a player with no clear weaknesses, Kuzma can easily fill that hole. Matching salaries are made easier with this contract in a potential trade.

The only reason why this grade is not an A is the potential that Kuzma can make the Wizards too good.

Washington desperately needs high draft picks in the next few years, and winning too many games next season may jeopardize that goal. Kuzma is a capable player and if he were to make the Wizards a 30-win team instead of a 25-win team, that could mean falling multiple spots in the 2024 NBA Draft.

Letting Kuzma walk or doing a sign-and-trade with him may have been a better idea in the long term, both in terms of financial flexibility and future draft picks.

Regardless of that possibility, getting a good player on a value deal is always a good idea. Especially considering that Kuzma appears to be happy in Washington and has accepted a role as a mentor and team leader, the positives probably outweigh the negatives here.