After adding Israeli superstar Deni Avdija and former All-American Cassius Winston in the 2020 NBA Draft a couple weeks ago, the Wizards made a few moves to round out their roster for 2020-21. There was one huge re-signing, one medium-sized signing and multiple low-impact contracts handed out. Today, we’ll break down all of them.
The Wizards, especially in their current state, are not a major free agent destination. With so much cap space committed to John Wall and Bradley Beal, there isn’t much room to sign big-time players anyway. But with Ian Mahinmi’s disaster of a contract finally off the books, the Wizards had a bit of breathing room, and they used it to bring back an important piece of the offense.
Dāvis Bertāns is in DC to stay. Mahinmi was making an average of $16 million per year, and Tommy Sheppard threw all of that space at the Latvian sharpshooter, handing him $80 million across five years. That’s a huge commitment, but if Bertans plays like he did last season, it will be worth it.
Bertāns, a 6’10” power forward, brings a rare combination of size and shooting ability. He knocked down 42.4 percent of his threes last season, which was the sixth-highest percentage league-wide, and of the five players ahead of him, only Miami’s Duncan Robinson had more attempts.
In today’s NBA, great three-point shooting is crucial to a successful offense, and having someone like Bertāns, who can knock down threes and use his height to shoot over everyone, is extremely valuable.
Bertāns has an interesting NBA career path; he was drafted 42nd overall in 2011 by the Indiana Pacers, but his draft rights were traded to the San Antonio Spurs in a package that included fellow draftee Kawhi Leonard. Bertāns did not make his NBA debut until 2016, and he spent three seasons with San Antonio before getting sent to Washington in a three-team deal in which the Wizards only gave up Aaron White, whose draft rights went to the Brooklyn Nets.
White is currently playing in Greece, while Bertāns quickly broke out in his largest NBA role to date, and he cashed in this offseason. Bertāns still came off the bench in his first season in Washington, starting only four of the 54 games he played, but he averaged nearly 30 minutes per game and was second on the team in scoring with 15.4 points per game.
Had Bertāns walked, it would have been impossible to replace that scoring production on the open market, so locking up Bertāns, who is 28 and well within the prime of his career, was the most important priority this offseason. Assuming no major trades occur before the start of the season, and that Avdija will be ready for an NBA starting role, the starting lineup will look like this:
G – John Wall
G – Bradley Beal
F – Deni Avdija
F – Rui Hachimura
C – Thomas Bryant
Bertāns will be the sixth man, rotating with Rui Hachimura at the four, and Troy Brown Jr. figures to be very involved off the bench as well after his showing in the NBA bubble, and perhaps could be starting at the three over Avdija to start the season, if not Isaac Bonga. If all these players can play to their potential, the Wizards will be in the playoff mix, and Bertāns is a big reason for that.
The other signing of note for the Wizards was bringing in veteran center Robin Lopez on a one-year, $7.3 million deal. Lopez is perhaps better known for his antics with opposing teams’ mascots than he is for his on-court play, but this signing is significant in a number of ways.
First, $7.3 million for a player of his caliber is a sizable amount. Granted, it’s only one season, but this signing was mocked all over the internet, especially since it came shortly after the news broke that Wall wanted to be traded.
Looking at Lopez as a player, and he could contribute to filling a desperate need for the Wizards, and that’s defense. The Wizards were the worst defensive team in the league last season — only the Hawks allowed more points per game (119.7 compared to the Wizards’ 119.1), which offset the impact of their top 10 scoring offense.
Thomas Bryant is entrenched as the starter at center, and while he has been improving every season, his defense remains questionable at best. The 32-year-old Lopez, meanwhile, is one of the better defensive centers in the league. He isn’t an elite shot blocker, but he gets the job done around the rim and is fundamentally sound, which should complement Bryant well.
He is not going to completely flip the situation on its head; he won’t play a crazy amount of minutes, and even if he does, it won’t turn the Wizards into a top defensive team, but his presence should remedy the situation.
On the offensive side of the ball, Lopez only contributed 5.4 points per game last season, but that was with a Milwaukee Bucks team that has Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and his brother Brook Lopez, among others. With Beal, Wall and Bertāns leading the way in scoring, plus Hachimura and Avdija providing offensive upside as well, Lopez won’t be needed to carry the offense anyway.
All in all, it’s a solid depth signing despite the salary. Best case scenario: He adds a much-needed boost on defense. Worst case scenario: He doesn’t make an impact, stops seeing the court and either gets his contract moved by the trade deadline or simply moves on the following offseason. There really isn’t much risk on the Wizards’ part.
They don’t have many short-term deals on their roster, and if Lopez does play well and a contending team would be interested in taking on his services as a rental, the Wizards would be able to get an asset or two back at the deadline. There are multiple outcomes for Lopez’s tenure with the Wizards this year, but they all range from beneficial to relatively inconsequential.
The Wizards added a third NBA contract by signing guard Raul Neto to a one-year, $1.88 million deal. The 28-year-old Brazilian spent last season on the Philadelphia 76ers, where he averaged 5.1 points and 1.8 assists per game. Neto spent the first four years of his NBA career with the Utah Jazz, making the Wizards his third team in six seasons.
This move won’t be significant; he signed as a reserve guard and that’s exactly what he’ll be. Just a cheap contract to add depth in the backcourt. It will be interesting to see where he’ll stack up on the depth chart with Winston.
The Wizards also brought in former South Carolina Gamecock and Virginia Cavalier Anthony Gill. The 6’8″ forward has spent the past three years playing in Russia after he went undrafted in 2016. Gill averaged 8.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game with BC Khimki last season, and he shot an impressive 56.7 percent from the field, and shot 44 percent from three (22 out of 50 attempts).
Gill will look to establish himself in the NBA, and should have a chance to off the bench, although he will have Hachimura, Bertāns and Moe Wagner to compete against for minutes, so he won’t have a huge role.
Besides bringing back Bertāns and adding Lopez, Neto and Gill, the Wizards also brought back Garrison Mathews on a two-way contract. The 24-year-old guard appeared in 18 games last season, and also spent time with the Capital City Go-Go in the G-League.
Mathews averaged 5.4 points and 1.3 rebounds per game with the Wizards, but he exploded for 28 points against the eventual Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat on Dec. 30 last season. Now back for this season, Mathews will split time again, but could see more NBA-level action than he did last year, especially if spots are opened by injuries.
Finally, the Wizards added a few more players who may not even be on the roster by opening night, but could have roles with the Go-Go.
Washington teams are really starting to like players out of Liberty University, as the Washington Football Team drafted Liberty wide receiver Antonio Gandy-Golden in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft, and now the Wizards added Liberty guard Caleb Homesley as an undrafted free agent.
The reigning Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Year was signed to an Exhibit 10 contract, which is a one-year, non-guaranteed minimum. He had a great collegiate career at Liberty, earning First Team All-Atlantic Sun honors twice, but Homesley won’t have any impact with the Wizards this year, if he’s even kept on the roster.
The same applies to Yoeli Childs, the former BYU standout who also signed to an Exhibit 10 deal. The 6’8″ forward averaged 22.2 points, nine rebounds and two assists as a senior in Provo last season, and he leaves BYU as the sixth-highest scorer in program history.
The Wizards also signed former LSU forward Marlon Taylor to an Exhibit 10 deal. Taylor played his first two seasons of college ball at Panola College in east Texas before transferring to Baton Rouge.
Taylor averaged 6.4 points per game across two seasons with the Tigers, and is almost certainly headed to the G-League.
A few more signings could trickle in, but the Wizards are already over the maximum 15 roster slots, and will have to start cutting down their roster before the season starts, so this will probably be it.
There was only one priority move to be made, and the Wizards got it done by bringing back Bertāns. They aren’t set up for an NBA Finals run by any means, but they’re at least set up to take a step forward.
As long as Wall can come close to his previous level of play, Beal and Bertāns continue to produce, and all the young players take a leap in their development, that’s all you can ask for.
Cover Photo Credit: Basketball Forever
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