The Washington Wizards head into this offseason with a real challenge to improve their team — they have no cap space. More than that, just keeping restricted free agents Otto Porter and Bojan Bogdanovic could send them into the tax (and it’s fair to ask if owner Ted Leonsis is willing to pay that). GM Ernie Grunfeld needs to find a way to bolster the bench, yet also could need to shed salary.
That hasn’t stopped John Wall from trying to recruit Paul George to the Wizards, he told Marc Spears at ESPN’s The Undefeated.“I am talking to some guys -- Paul. I know his ultimate goal of where he wants to be. I’m trying to see if we can make something happen,” Wall told The Undefeated before the NBA awards on Monday night....
“Look at our team. We are one piece away,” Wall said. “We have the point guard, we have the shooting guard, we have the center, we have the power forward. Our 3-man, [Porter], did great for us. You can’t take nothing away from what he did. But, [George] is a guy that can guard LeBron and go back at LeBron. It’s a piece that you’re going to need to win. If you don’t have a guy who can do that, you don’t have a chance. ...
You got to add another star. You got to add another piece. You got to have three guys. And that’s what it’s looking like.”
Wall isn’t wrong about what George could bring on the court, he would be an upgrade over Porter. That said, Porter shot 43.4% from three and averaged 13.4 points per game while playing good defense, and considering the demand for good wings in the league right now Porter likely will get a max or near max contract this summer. He has value.
The problem for the Pacers in bringing in George — who will be a free agent in 2018, so if the Wizards could convince him to stay would still need to be maxed out in a year — is money. Next season Wizards have Bradley Beal making $25.8 million next season, Wall at $18 million, Ian Mahinmi at $16.7 million, Marcin Gortat at $12.8 million — and every one of them is signed until at least the summer of 2019. That’s a lot of big salaries, and we haven’t got into the lesser salaries and cap holds — the Wizards are up against the tax and well over the cap. Even if the Wizards could swing a trade for George (say a sign-and-trade with Porter, plus a couple of future first round picks, even though those picks will be lower than the Pacers have been asking) Washington would need to dump a couple of those salaries to have money to re-sign George in 2018. And dumping those salaries would require giving teams young players and/or picks as sweeteners to absorb the costs. It’s not that practical.
All that, and George could just walk as a free agent in 2018. His interest in playing for the Lakers is widely known.
It’s a good effort by the Wall, but in the end the Wizards likely keep Porter and hope for improvement internally.