At least one team has offered Washington Wizards wing Otto Porter Jr. a max salary contract.
According to reports published on Sunday afternoon, the Sacramento Kings offered Porter a huge max contract, estimated to be worth $106 million. Porter is a restricted free agent, which means if he signs the offer sheet with Sacramento, Washington would have the opportunity to match.
Reports have said that Washington will be trying to match any offer for Porter, so he is expected to stay in D.C. with John Wall and Bradley Beal.
Via Twitter:
Reporting with @MarcJSpearsESPN: ESPN sources say Sacramento offered Washington restricted free-agent Otto Porter the max.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 2, 2017
Wizards will make an aggressive offer at 12:01 am tonight -- and match any offer -- to ensure they keep Otto Porter, @TheUndefeated reports.
— Mike Wise (@MikeWiseguy) June 30, 2017
ESPN Sources: Otto Porter Jr. is scheduling meetings with two more teams and then he'll decide which offer sheet to sign.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 3, 2017
Washington is expected to move away from Marcin Gortat this offseason, which would help offset the $25+ million per annum salary that Porter would take home under the reported deal. Shedding Gortat’s salary would not entirely help mitigate Porter’s new contract, so expect the Wizards to make future deals.
With Wall, Beal, and Ian Mahinmi all taking up big cap hits, adding Porter to the mix would severely hamper Washington moving forward. Their Achilles heel this NBA playoffs was their bench, something that will be hard to fix once Porter is on the books.
Nevertheless, Washington was extremely fun team to watch during the regular season and we can hope that they can get better as the Eastern Conference weakens this summer.