What should the Wizards do this offseason?

[NYG]

In the last 19 games, Deni is averaging 19 points 10 rebounds and 4 assists on a .594 TS% while being one of the better defensive forwards in the game. (He has actually been posting those numbers on a per 36 basis since Christmas, but Wes Unseld Jr. inexplicably played him just 27 minutes a game. Brian Keefe is giving him 36 minutes a game.) He is more than just a glue guy. He is on his way to being a Khris Middleton/Mikal Bridges tier 3rd option on a good team.

He just turned 23 and he starts a new 4-year contract next year that averages just $13.5M a year. The Wizards aren't trading him.

Are the Wizards keeping Kuzma if they can't get 2 1sts?

[nate33]

In the last 19 games, Deni is averaging 19 points 10 rebounds and 4 assists on a .594 TS% while being one of the better defensive forwards in the game. (He has actually been posting those numbers on a per 36 basis since Christmas, but Wes Unseld Jr. inexplicably played him just 27 minutes a game. Brian Keefe is giving him 36 minutes a game.) He is more than just a glue guy. He is on his way to being a Khris Middleton/Mikal Bridges tier 3rd option on a good team.

He just turned 23 and he starts a new 4-year contract next year that averages just $13.5M a year. The Wizards aren't trading him.

Are the Wizards keeping Kuzma if they can't get 2 1sts?

Not indefinitely.

My guess is that they will try and shop him for two 1sts this offseason. If nobody bites, they'll keep him and keep shopping him up until the Trade Deadline. If they still can't get two 1sts, they'll come down off the price and sell him for one 1st. In fact, the cost all along may only have been one 1st provided it was a 1st from the 2025 draft. (It would take two 1sts from the 2024 draft.)

[cgf]

I'd spend a lot of my time calling the Bulls to find out what they'd pay for a Lonzo - Kuzma swap, and seeing if the Hawks/Pistons needed help doing something desperate.

Otherwise a lot of keeping the course and doing the typical rebuild stuff to look for talent / trade bait.

[BlazersBroncos]

They need to sit on Poole, take bad contracts for assets, draft BPA and give Bilal and Deni higher usage in 24/25.

I would move Kispert as well, like him on a playoff team but he is a side piece on a rebuild team.

[nate33]

They need to sit on Poole, take bad contracts for assets, draft BPA and give Bilal and Deni higher usage in 24/25.

I would move Kispert as well, like him on a playoff team but he is a side piece on a rebuild team.

I think this is more or less the plan - except for the Kispert part.

The trick with Kispert is that he's a nice player, but not the kind of player who has much trade value. Everyone knows he is going to get a market-value contract in 2025 at which point he becomes a neutral asset. So why would anyone sacrifice a lot to obtain him now? All the Wizards would get is a couple of SRP's and I'd rather just have Kispert.

I think the Wizards will try and extend Kispert to a 4-year declining contract much like they did with Avdija and Kuzma. Sign him to a contract that makes him slightly overpaid in Year 1 and Year 2 when the Wizards don't mind overpaying him. And then by Year 3 and Year 4, he become underpaid and valuable, just at the time when the Wizards could use some cheap depth or a trade asset.