2025 Offseason

[AFM]

More proof that all stars want to play for WAS. #CULTOFDAWKINS

[80sballboy]

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[FAH1223]

Haha my tweet blew up a bit

[FAH1223]

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[jangles86]

Could someone please explain to me if the knicks get the Phoenix pick, if our own pick falls outside of the lottery and Phoenix finishes inside the lottery?

Do we keep phoenix pick and knicks get nothing still?

[Hibachi_0]

Could someone please explain to me if the knicks get the Phoenix pick, if our own pick falls outside of the lottery and Phoenix finishes inside the lottery?

Do we keep phoenix pick and knicks get nothing still?

If we lose our pick (outside top-8) we don't get anything. We can't swap something we don't have.

[doclinkin]

Could someone please explain to me if the knicks get the Phoenix pick, if our own pick falls outside of the lottery and Phoenix finishes inside the lottery?

Do we keep phoenix pick and knicks get nothing still?

If we lose our pick (outside top-8) we don't get anything. We can't swap something we don't have.

Correct. The Knicks would get our pick. PHX would keep their own pick.

[nate33]

I find myself refreshing RealGM every 15 minutes to see what Winger & Co. will do next.

They are clearly working the phones to make any deal that will incrementally improve our long term outlook. And they obviously can't enter the season with only Sarr at center. Something is going to happen.

I hope they put together a big move that lands us a good young prospect at center rather than just a stopgap. But other than the draftees that we missed out on (Maluach, Sorber, Queen, Berringer), I don't really see any good young centers who are conceivably available except maybe Walker Kessler.

[willbcocks]

I want the worst possible centers that don't mess up the development of our youngsters. Poor production from that position is a key component of our tank.

[nate33]

I want the worst possible centers that don't mess up the development of our youngsters. Poor production from that position is a key component of our tank.

That would work too, but even better would be a raw prospect like Maluach who will possibly be extremely good in a few years, but for now will make a lot of mistakes that promote losing.

[nate33]

With Vukcevic now on board on a 2-way, that's 20 guys under contract:

Veterans:
Khris Middleton $33.3M
CJ McCollum $30.7M
Marcus Smart $21.6M
Corey Kispert $14.0M
Richaun Holmes $13.3M (can be bought out for $500K)

Rookie Contracts:
Alex Sarr $11.8M
Tre Johnson $8.3M
Bilal Coulibaly $7.3M
Malaki Branham $5.0M
Blake Wesley $4.7M
Bub Carrington $4.7M
Cam Whitmore $3.5M
Will Riley $3.5M
AJ Johnson $3.1M
Kyshawn George $3.0M
Dillon Jones $2.75M

Vet Minimum Contracts:
Justin Champagnie $2.4M

Two-Way Contracts:
Tristan Vukcevic
Jami Watkins
Jaylen Martin

Total Salary: $172.7M
Salary Cap: $154.6M

17 guys are on the regular roster. We have to trim it to 15 by the start of the season.
We have the full MLE of $14.1M, and the Olynyk TPE of $13.4M

[pcbothwel]

With Vukcevic now on board on a 2-way, that's 20 guys under contract:

Veterans:
Khris Middleton $33.3M
CJ McCollum $30.7M
Marcus Smart $21.6M
Corey Kispert $14.0M
Richaun Holmes $13.3M (can be bought out for $500K)

Rookie Contracts:
Alex Sarr $11.8M
Tre Johnson $8.3M
Bilal Coulibaly $7.3M
Malaki Branham $5.0M
Blake Wesley $4.7M
Bub Carrington $4.7M
Cam Whitmore $3.5M
Will Riley $3.5M
AJ Johnson $3.1M
Kyshawn George $3.0M
Dillon Jones $2.75M

Vet Minimum Contracts:
Justin Champagnie $2.4M

Two-Way Contracts:
Tristan Vukcevic
Jami Watkins
Jaylen Martin

Total Salary: $172.7M
Salary Cap: $154.6M

17 guys are on the regular roster. We have to trim it to 15 by the start of the season.
We have the full MLE of $14.1M, and the Olynyk TPE of $13.4M

- We need a 3rd Center, so we either keep Holmes or backfill his position. No change there
- I suspect that 1 of the acquired vets (Smart/Midds/CJ) + 2 fillers (Blake/Branham/Jones) will be sent out with only 1 person coming back.

I would guess Smart gets traded now, Midds by the deadline, and CJ stays or maybe bought out by the deadline.

[leswizards]

I can’t keep track of it, but I think the wizards have 18 players on the roster (not counting 2 ways), and have to get 15.

They have 2 players who are pfs/cs (Bagley and Holmes). However everyone seems to think that Holmes will be bought out. They have Sarr who is tall enough to play pf and c, but plays like a wing. They have a bunch of sfs who are capable of playing pf, but are really preferably sfs.

So, clearly something has to give.

So, I looked at nba contracts looking for pfs/cs who are in the last year of their contract, make roughly equivalent of what the Wizards vets do, and won’t cost and arm and a leg in terms of draft picks/young talent.

The list is Josef nurkic, pj Washington, Rui Hachimura, Zach Collins and naz Reid.

[payitforward]

Edited to add Bagley...

With Bagley on board and Vukcevic now on a 2-way, that's 21 guys under contract:

Veterans:
Khris Middleton $33.3M
CJ McCollum $30.7M
Marcus Smart $21.6M
Corey Kispert $14.0M
Richaun Holmes $13.3M (can be bought out for $500K)
Marvin Bagley $2.3m

Rookie Contracts:
Alex Sarr $11.8M
Tre Johnson $8.3M
Bilal Coulibaly $7.3M
Malaki Branham $5.0M
Blake Wesley $4.7M
Bub Carrington $4.7M
Cam Whitmore $3.5M
Will Riley $3.5M
AJ Johnson $3.1M
Kyshawn George $3.0M
Dillon Jones $2.75M

Vet Minimum Contracts:
Justin Champagnie $2.4M

Two-Way Contracts:
Tristan Vukcevic
Jamir Watkins
Jaylen Martin

Total Salary: $175M
Salary Cap: $154.6M

18 guys are on the regular roster. We have to trim it to 15 by the start of the season.

I assume that signing Bagley signals that we won't pick up Holmes' option. All the same, we must get rid of 2 other guys before the season.

...We have the full MLE of $14.1M, and the Olynyk TPE of $13.4M

[NatP4]

Smart and Kispert traded before the season, one of Branham/Wesley gets cut.

Carrington Wesley
Tre McCollum
Bilal Whitmore
Middleton George Champagnie
Sarr Bagley

AJ, Riley, and Dillon Jones go to the G-League.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Edited to add Bagley...

With Bagley on board and Vukcevic now on a 2-way, that's 21 guys under contract:

Veterans:
Khris Middleton $33.3M
CJ McCollum $30.7M
Marcus Smart $21.6M
Corey Kispert $14.0M
Richaun Holmes $13.3M (can be bought out for $500K)
Marvin Bagley $2.3m

Rookie Contracts:
Alex Sarr $11.8M
Tre Johnson $8.3M
Bilal Coulibaly $7.3M
Malaki Branham $5.0M
Blake Wesley $4.7M
Bub Carrington $4.7M
Cam Whitmore $3.5M
Will Riley $3.5M
AJ Johnson $3.1M
Kyshawn George $3.0M
Dillon Jones $2.75M

Vet Minimum Contracts:
Justin Champagnie $2.4M

Two-Way Contracts:
Tristan Vukcevic
Jamir Watkins
Jaylen Martin


Total Salary: $175M
Salary Cap: $154.6M

18 guys are on the regular roster. We have to trim it to 15 by the start of the season.

I assume that signing Bagley signals that we won't pick up Holmes' option. All the same, we must get rid of 2 other guys before the season.

...We have the full MLE of $14.1M, and the Olynyk TPE of $13.4M

Gotta move out Kispert & Dillon Jones

[nate33]

Smart and Kispert traded before the season, one of Branham/Wesley gets cut.

Easier said than done. If we trade Kispert, we would likely get back a salary or salaries of multiple players. So we would still be eating a substantial salary. Unless we can trade Kispert into someone's MLE, that is.

[nate33]

I suspect we will cut Holmes, and two among Branham, Wesley and Jones.

Another possibility is that either Smart or Middleton are willing to take a meaningful pay cut in a buyout, under the premise that they could go sign someplace else for MLE type money (or at least taxpayer MLE type money) and recoup their losses. If that happens, then one of them might be cut in the interest of saving money.

[payitforward]

That sounds right to me, nate. Only, if we cut e.g. Middleton, doesn't he play for the vet minimum, and we pay the rest of his contracted total?

[AFM]

No one's mentioned it yet, but we just waived Holmes.


https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/basketball/news/richaun-holmes-waived-by-washington/

Holmes (shoulder) was waived by the Wizards on Monday.

Holmes will be searching for a new team after spending parts of the past two seasons with the Wizards, appearing in 48 games. In 2024-25, the veteran big man played in 31 regular-season contests, including seven starts, and averaged 7.4 points and 5.7 rebounds in 17.2 minutes per game.