The Washington Wizards need a backup big, yet again
By Jay Hanson
Stop me if you heard this one before: The Washington Wizards need a backup center! It’s not a joke, it’s not Groundhog Day, it’s just reality in the DMV. Ever since the Wizards traded Montrezl Harrell in the 2021-22 season, the Wizards needed a backup center. That’s been two years and still counting, and yet for some reason the Wizards have yet to solve the problem!
Last season saw the Wizards tinker with a possible solution with Vernon Carey Jr. After featuring him in limited appearances that did not go too well, they waived him. Then they decided to bring up Jay Huff from the G League, which turned out to be an excellent move. He looked great at the end of the regular season; he even finished the G League as the Defensive Player of the Year. He can shoot the three, rebound, and block shots. Problem solved. What could possibly go wrong?
Then the new front office came in and said, “No thanks!” No compensation, no trade, no matching of a contract offer, just straight up “thank you for your service.”
Washington then drafted a new center in the Serbian Tristan Vukcevic, who could have been the team’s young backup center, but now he’s going to stay overseas. They have Mike Muscala, yet he should never be confused for a defensive big man.
The Wizards could have signed a vet as a backup center this season but haven’t. They could have grabbed fan favorite Montrezl Harrell who re-signed with the 76ers after hardly playing any meaningful minutes last year. Hassan Whiteside is not in the league but would be a better option than Muscala. Bol Bol was on the market for a split second, but the Wizards seemingly had no interest.
Maybe the front office doesn’t think the Wizards need a defensive backup big? Or maybe they think the new NBA has phased all centers out of existence? If so, then they haven’t been watching the NBA lately. Any current list of the top five players in the NBA will have at least 3 bigs -Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, and Nikola Jokic. One can even have Anthony Davis up there.
Traditional centers are history, but bigs with skills are the now and the future. But the problem is, sometimes you need traditional bigs to guard the new-age ones. Backup bigs are massively underrated until you need a fleet of them to defend Giannis.
I’m not going to pretend to be the front office, I’m not going to advise them on what they should do, and I’m not even going to tell you what I would do in their shoes. I’m just going to vent. And as a Wizards fan, I’ve earned the right. The Wizards needed a backup center two years ago, they needed a backup center all of last year, and they need a backup center now. And after dealing with the same problem for two straight years, I think we’re all allowed a good vent.
