The Wizards’ willingness to trade forward Rui Hachimura to the Lakers showed their confidence that they will be able to re-sign forward Kyle Kuzma during the offseason, league sources conveyed to Marc Stein of The Stein Line.
Kuzma intends to decline his $13 million player option and enter free agency in July, per Stein. The Wizards are telling teams ahead of the trade deadline that they intend to keep both Kuzma and forward Kristaps Porzingis, who also has a player option on his deal.
- While not much is being made of the acquisition of guard Kendrick Nunn, both he and the Wizards are said to be excited about the possibility that a fresh start will serve him well.
- Wizards GM Tommy Sheppard on Nunn: “Kendrick has shown the ability to be a solid perimeter threat who can provide instant offense as a reserve.”
- In case you missed it, the Suns were involved in the Hachimura deal as a third team, as we relayed here. In fact, the Wizards initially offered Hachimura to the Suns in a trade involving Jae Crowder, but the Suns rebuffed it, per Stein.
- The Wizards gained a $6.26 million traded player exception in the deal that involved Hachimura’s outgoing salary, per Josh Robbins of The Athletic.
- Washington is likely to make another trade of the Feb. 9 trade deadline as it looks to open up a roster spot, per Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.
- The Wizards still have an interest in Crowder, as well as Bucks center/forward Serge Ibaka, sources tell Hoops Wire.
- Rival teams are keeping an eye on guard/forward Will Barton as a potential buyout candidate after the trade deadline, per Fischer.
After a significant trade and with 17 days still left in this trade season, here is my latest Monday assemblage of NBA Trade Deadline Whispers … since it's still Monday in every time zone in #thisleague but one: https://t.co/nPHClEBtCB
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) January 24, 2023
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Hey Sam is the post trade deadline buyout market a place the Cavs would look to address the wing? If they don’t make a deal for one? Or do they stick with what they’ve got at that position if trade deadline passes? I guess it depends who get bought out.
Is Barton a good candidate to join the Cavs and be that guy? He seems pretty unselfish, and ready for big games. I think of him more as a guard than a wing though. In today’s NBA I’m not sure if he’s what the Cavs consider a “wing”?