James Wiseman, the no. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, is currently a free agent. He started this season on the soon-to-be-Finals-bound Indiana Pacers before tearing his achilles during his first game as a Pacer.
Wiseman was then traded to the Toronto Raptors, who waived him before he ever played a game for them. He is now a free agent in search of his next NBA team after flaming out with the Golden State Warriors, Detroit Pistons, and now the Pacers.
So should the Wizards take a flier on him?
Wiseman is a member of an exceedingly rare fraternity of genuine draft busts — one with which the Wizards are intimately familiar after selecting Johnny Davis no. 10 overall in 2022.
Wiseman, like Davis, never had any issues off the court. Wiseman did have some injuries, but not career-derailing injuries that sullied what would have otherwise been a promising career. He merely stunk up the joint in various cities and now only still finds himself on the fringes of the NBA due to the draft stock invested in him.
Ultimately, I do not think signing Wiseman would be a good idea for the Wizards. If he was not selected no. 2 overall, this would not be a conversation at all — he would already be well out of the league.
Wiseman is a great example of two general maxims in the NBA:
One — Draft stock plays too strong a role in how long players stick around in the NBA. Darko Milicic, the historic draft bust selected no. 2 overall in 2003, stuck around in the NBA all the way to 2013 despite never even averaging nine points a game for a whole season. Wiseman, similarly, likely has at least a couple more years left in the NBA.
The aforementioned Davis also probably shouldn’t have even made it to the end of his rookie season if the organization’s talent evaluators were being honest with themselves.
Two — The 2020 NBA Draft was a disaster. Anthony Edwards was a home run pick at no. 1 by the Minnesota Timberwolves, but most of the other picks of the lottery (Patrick Williams at no. 4, Isaac Okoro at no. 5, Killian Hayes at no. 7, and Jalen Smith at no. 10, to name a few) were total airballs. Tyrese Haliburton even fell all the way to Sacramento at no. 12 despite having been in play for the no. 2 pick that the Warriors ended up using to take Wiseman.
The Wizards’ pick in 2020 was Deni Avdija at no. 9 overall. Avdija was okay at best in Washington, though he’s transformed himself into a potential franchise cornerstone in Portland.
I wrote this piece to get ahead of the inevitable offseason content malaise of “Should the Wizards sign X player.” Yes, Wiseman was selected with a high draft pick, but that does not mean that the Wizards should hand him a roster spot just because he is still in his mid-20s.
Some team will be stupid enough, though.