Wizards' Competitive Resolve: Adding Valanciunas, Embracing Improved Defense
2 months, 1 week ago

Wizards' Competitive Resolve: Adding Valanciunas, Embracing Improved Defense

Associated Press  

The Washington Wizards are looking to improve their rebounding and defense after acquiring veteran center Jonas Valanciunas from New Orleans in the offseason. The team also adds Malik Brogdon and Kyle Kuzma to their roster, both of whom are expected to contribute to the team's improvement. The Wizards also have several other players to watch, including Bilal Coulibaly and Corey Kispert, who are both expected to have significant roles in the team's rotation.

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History of this topic

Wizards, Jonas Valančiūnas agree to 3-year deal. Does this make sense for Washington?
5 months, 3 weeks ago

Wizards, Jonas Valančiūnas agree to 3-year deal. Does this make sense for Washington?

New York Times  

WASHINGTON — The Washington Wizards just drafted center Alex Sarr second overall, and team officials think Sarr can develop into a high-level player. The team reached a deal with Valančiūnas, an unrestricted free agent who spent the past three seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans, in large part to help Sarr get his NBA career off on the right foot. …

Winners and losers from 2024 NBA Draft first round: Jazz, Wizards and Lakers lead way
5 months, 3 weeks ago

Winners and losers from 2024 NBA Draft first round: Jazz, Wizards and Lakers lead way

New York Times  

The first round of the 2024 NBA Draft has come and gone, and it was a wild ride with surprises up and down the board as well as a few trades that no one saw coming. This is a direction for the organization, and I’m excited to see what this team looks like even if guys like Sarr, Carrington and …

Jordan Poole moved to a sixth-man role: Why did the Wizards make that change?
10 months ago

Jordan Poole moved to a sixth-man role: Why did the Wizards make that change?

New York Times  

On Thursday, the Washington Wizards finally addressed the 6-foot-4, 194-pound elephant in their room: the persistent, worrisome, on-court struggles of guard Jordan Poole. In a lineup change intended to resurrect Poole’s faded mojo and allot more quality minutes to prized rookie Bilal Coulibaly, interim coach Brian Keefe moved Poole out of the Wizards’ starting lineup and into a sixth-man role. …

Grading the Kelly Olynyk trade: Evaluating the deal for Jazz and Raptors
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Grading the Kelly Olynyk trade: Evaluating the deal for Jazz and Raptors

New York Times  

The Utah Jazz’s in-season turnaround has thrust them into the Play-In Tournament hunt, but that won’t stop their front office from acquiring a first-round pick at the deadline. The Jazz are sending Kelly Olynyk and Ochai Agbaji to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Kira Lewis, Otto Porter Jr. and a 2024 first-round pick. League sources confirm to The Athletic …

Evaluating your Knicks fake trade proposals: Who says no?
10 months, 3 weeks ago

Evaluating your Knicks fake trade proposals: Who says no?

New York Times  

The NBA trade season is upon us, and front offices aren’t the only ones negotiating deals. Let’s take a look at some of the most interesting fake trades: Knicks receive: Bruce Brown Raptors receive: Evan Fournier, Brooklyn 2025 second-round pick, 2027 second-round pick Who says no? Knicks receive: Malcolm Brogdon Trail Blazers receive: Quentin Grimes, Evan Fournier, Dallas 2024 first-round …

Roadmap for a Rebuild: How, and how fast, can the Wizards improve their deficient roster?
1 year ago

Roadmap for a Rebuild: How, and how fast, can the Wizards improve their deficient roster?

New York Times  

The Washington Wizards bear a unique debt to their fan base. WASHINGTON — Here’s the good news for Washington Wizards fans who’ve suffered through the team’s horrendous start to the 2023-24 season: Things almost certainly won’t improve anytime soon. The Wizards’ win-loss record, for the next several years, will matter in only one sense: maximizing the franchise’s NBA Draft Lottery …

The Jordan Poole-Kyle Kuzma dynamic, Deni Avdija’s growth: Wizards observations
1 year, 1 month ago

The Jordan Poole-Kyle Kuzma dynamic, Deni Avdija’s growth: Wizards observations

New York Times  

WASHINGTON — Jordan Poole stood at midcourt at 7:03 p.m. Saturday, a microphone in his hand. This is a central subplot to the Wizards’ 2023-24 season: With so much fan support already eroded, with the rebuilding team likely to lose much more often than it will win, can Poole, Kyle Kuzma and their teammates coax enough people to attend the …

Aldridge: Making Wizards an NBA destination will begin with painful — but needed — first steps
1 year, 2 months ago

Aldridge: Making Wizards an NBA destination will begin with painful — but needed — first steps

New York Times  

WASHINGTON — If this goes right, the way Michael Winger and Will Dawkins want it to go, you may never know the people who help the Wizards, someday, become championship contenders. That’s what “Heat Culture” and the Warriors’ “Strength in Numbers” credo are really about: Creating value throughout a team’s roster, turning G League players into legit NBA rotation guys, …

What will Jordan Poole bring to the Washington Wizards? ‘It won’t be uninteresting’
1 year, 5 months ago

What will Jordan Poole bring to the Washington Wizards? ‘It won’t be uninteresting’

New York Times  

We’re four months away from the start of the 2023-24 NBA season, but barring any unforeseen surprises, we already know who will be one of the Washington Wizards’ top scorers in the season ahead. With the exception of an injury or follow-up trade, 24-year-old guard Jordan Poole, who contributed to the Golden State Warriors’ 2021-22 championship run and averaged 20.4 …

For what the Wizards have done to make sense, fans have to embrace the looooong game
1 year, 6 months ago

For what the Wizards have done to make sense, fans have to embrace the looooong game

New York Times  

All right, there’s a thousand things that have to happen in order. The haul — Jordan Poole, Patrick Baldwin Jr., Ryan Rollins, a 2027 Golden State second-round pick and a 2030 protected first — is more than adequate spoils for Paul — who, it must be repeated, was never going to play a minute in D.C. Baldwin was the Dubs’ …

Warriors trading for Chris Paul, sending Jordan Poole, draft picks to Wizards: Sources
1 year, 6 months ago

Warriors trading for Chris Paul, sending Jordan Poole, draft picks to Wizards: Sources

New York Times  

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2023 NBA Draft. By Shams Charania, Josh Robbins, Anthony Slater and David Aldridge The Washington Wizards are trading guard Chris Paul to the Warriors for a package headlined by guard Jordan Poole, league sources told The Athletic. Warriors are sending Jordan Poole, a protected first-round pick in 2030 and a second-rounder in 2027 …

In trading Kristaps Porziņģis, the Washington Wizards’ plan becomes clearer
1 year, 6 months ago

In trading Kristaps Porziņģis, the Washington Wizards’ plan becomes clearer

New York Times  

WASHINGTON — This is what the early stages of a roster teardown looks like. In a span of four days, the Washington Wizards have agreed to trade their two leading scorers, Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porziņģis, who also happened to have the team’s largest salaries last season. Late Wednesday night, the Wizards’ new front-office leaders committed to sending out Porziņģis …

Bradley Beal trade grades: Instant reaction as Suns form a new big 3 in Phoenix
1 year, 6 months ago

Bradley Beal trade grades: Instant reaction as Suns form a new big 3 in Phoenix

New York Times  

Once Bradley Beal finally decided to explore greener pastures outside of a Washington Wizards uniform, it didn’t take long for a deal to be finalized. Shams Charania is reporting the Wizards are trading Beal to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, “a handful of second-round picks” and multiple first-round pick swaps. BREAKING: The Washington Wizards are …

Sources: Wizards to hire Michael Winger and give him authority to reshape the team
1 year, 6 months ago

Sources: Wizards to hire Michael Winger and give him authority to reshape the team

New York Times  

WASHINGTON — With the Washington Wizards underperforming and lacking a clear path back to national relevance, Ted Leonsis has decided to hire LA Clippers general manager Michael Winger, a lawyer by training who has experience dealing with superstar players, high-powered agents and the nuances of the collective bargaining agreement and salary cap. Leonsis plans to give Winger wide latitude to …

Aldridge: For Wizards to have hope for the future, they’ll need more L’s in the present
1 year, 8 months ago

Aldridge: For Wizards to have hope for the future, they’ll need more L’s in the present

New York Times  

If you’re a die-hard Wizards fan, if you go back to the days of Wes and the Big E and Bobby D; if you loved Agent Zero at his Zeroest or Chris Webber and the 30 Feet of Big Men or John Wall’s electric end-to-end attacks; if you care deeply about the franchise and want it to once again be …

NBA trade deadline Big Board: Myles Turner, John Collins top our list of targets
1 year, 11 months ago

NBA trade deadline Big Board: Myles Turner, John Collins top our list of targets

New York Times  

Editor’s note: Rui Hachimura was initially listed as No. — Leroux John Collins Seemingly perpetually on the block, the 25-year-old Collins should have a distinct place in the market because he is under contract for another two years with a player option for 2025-26, so if a team is interested in him at roughly $26 million per season, they have …

NBA trade deadline: What Shams is hearing about Jakob Poeltl, John Collins, Fred VanVleet and more
1 year, 11 months ago

NBA trade deadline: What Shams is hearing about Jakob Poeltl, John Collins, Fred VanVleet and more

New York Times  

Just under one month remains before the Feb. 9 NBA trade deadline, and as team executives ramp up conversations, the marquee names of this year’s marketplace are beginning to emerge. The Houston Rockets also have guard Eric Gordon as a trade candidate but have set an asking price of a good young player or first-round pick for Gordon, league sources …

Wizards have to figure out who they are and solve the Kyle Kuzma equation: Aldridge
1 year, 11 months ago

Wizards have to figure out who they are and solve the Kyle Kuzma equation: Aldridge

New York Times  

Here’s what can’t be true on Feb. 8, 2023: the Wizards not knowing what they’re going to do about Kyle Kuzma. “That’s a really good question,” he said after dropping 22 in the Wizards’ 127-102 win Wednesday over Phoenix. “We talked about it as a group — we’ve got to make up some ground,” Wes Unseld Jr. said Tuesday before …

Kyle Kuzma’s contract situation creates a dilemma for the Washington Wizards
2 years ago

Kyle Kuzma’s contract situation creates a dilemma for the Washington Wizards

New York Times  

WASHINGTON — Kyle Kuzma loves the freedom the Washington Wizards have given him to expand his offensive game. Indeed, the rules for veteran-player contract extensions set forth in the collective bargaining agreement along with Kuzma’s current salary make it wholly unrealistic for the sides to reach an extension. In Kuzma’s case, the highest beginning salary in the first season of …

Wizards’ Kyle Kuzma on Lakers exit, chemistry in Washington, fashion and more
2 years ago

Wizards’ Kyle Kuzma on Lakers exit, chemistry in Washington, fashion and more

New York Times  

The rise of Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma into a 20-points-per-game scorer has had many trials and tribulations. Kuzma was part of the Lakers’ young, homegrown core that included Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Julius Randle and Josh Hart. From the moment he was notified of the trade, Kuzma’s mindset shifted toward becoming the star-level player he always envisioned. We’re all …

Washington Wizards’ rotation and depth chart: How Corey Kispert’s injury will impact the lineup
2 years, 2 months ago

Washington Wizards’ rotation and depth chart: How Corey Kispert’s injury will impact the lineup

New York Times  

WASHINGTON — Wes Unseld Jr. didn’t need much time to conclude that the left-ankle injury Corey Kispert suffered Sunday in Japan will sideline the second-year wing for a while. Unseld said Kispert’s injury will create pathways for Deni Avdija, Will Barton and rookie Johnny Davis to earn more minutes. Wizards’ 10-man rotation If Unseld employs a 10-man rotation — and …

Grading Nuggets-Wizards 4-player trade: Instant reaction
2 years, 5 months ago

Grading Nuggets-Wizards 4-player trade: Instant reaction

New York Times  

It’s fair to wonder if this free-agency class has enough fireworks to put on a show this summer for NBA fans. The Denver Nuggets are nearing a deal to send Will Barton and Monté Morris to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith. — Shams Charania June 29, 2022 This would send the Nuggets some defense, …

Zach Harper’s Wizards offseason report: Overall grade, roster breakdown, goals for 2021-22
3 years, 3 months ago

Zach Harper’s Wizards offseason report: Overall grade, roster breakdown, goals for 2021-22

New York Times  

It feels like it never stops. Today, we’re breaking down the Washington Wizards, who are down a superstar going into this season but might have a much deeper team around Bradley Beal. Changes to Washington's Lead Guards Lead Guards 2020-21 Players 2021-22 Players 1 Russell Westbrook Spencer Dinwiddie 2 Ish Smith Raul Neto 3 Raul Neto Aaron Holiday 4 Cassius …

Free agent targets, who will start at small forward: Wizards Mailbag, Part 1
4 years, 2 months ago

Free agent targets, who will start at small forward: Wizards Mailbag, Part 1

New York Times  

Here is Part 1 of the mailbag, addressing roster-building questions. – Jamar G. If the Wizards don’t bring in a helpful wing player, I think it would be Isaac Bonga. But if I had to bet, I’d put my money on next year’s opening day small forward being a non-rookie currently not on the Wizards. And let’s not forget: Their …

Five things the Washington Wizards can learn from the NBA Finals
4 years, 2 months ago

Five things the Washington Wizards can learn from the NBA Finals

New York Times  

As I watched the Lakers beat the Heat in the NBA Finals, I couldn’t help but think about what must have also been on the rest of the world’s mind: The Washington Wizards. 4: Stars playing like role players About halfway into the fourth quarter of the Wizards’ 2019-20 season opener, Bradley Beal switched himself onto the Mavericks’ Luka Doncic. …

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