Kristaps Porzingis’ Outlook With Washington Wizards

Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma are definitely solid secondary options next to Beal and as mentioned before, the Wizards have plenty of young talent that is only going to get better, but the clock is ticking for Bradley Beal and his contract situation is going to be up-in-the-air heading into the offseason. 

The All-Star shooting guard does have a $36M player option for the 2022-23 season, but many around the league are expecting Bradley Beal to try and use his “final year” as a way to earn a long-term, max contract. Beal could sign a new long-term deal with the Wizards worth as much as $245 million over five years in the offseason.

However, the possibility of a sign-and-trade is not out of the question for the Wizards and Beal yet, especially if they do not surround him with the necessary talent to win. 

Bradley Beal has proven to be loyal to the Wizards for many years now, but at some point, constantly losing and underachieving takes a toll on star players in this league. Washington has proven time and time again over the years that they are in no position to contend in the Eastern Conference and the move to bring in Kristaps Porzingis does not really change anything. 

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The future of the Wizards still revolves around young talents like Deni Avdija, Corey Kispert and Rui Hachimura, but nothing about Washington’s young core really excites anyone. 

They do not have a young star on the rise and heading into next season given the contracts currently on their roster, the Wizards are estimated to have a payroll of about $127 million, assuming Beal opts to his player option. 

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This leaves the Wizards with no cap space to go out and make a move in free agency, as well as really no direction on who else they can look to bring in talent-wise. They could still trade for Pistons’ Jerami Grant in the offseason given all of their young assets, but does a trio of Beal, Porzingis and Grant really make the Wizards any better than they are currently? 

Nothing about trading for Kristaps Porzingis really makes the Wizards a threat right now and the future for them seems very up-in-the-air at this point.