Can the Washington Wizards afford to keep Davis Bertans next season?
The Washington Wizards will be hoping to sign Davis Bertans next season. Due to the play of the Latvian, he may be out of their price range.
When a player is traded it can be a lottery. They can fail, produce at their previous level or fly. Fortunately for Davis Bertans and the Washington Wizards, he flew. The 27-year-old power forward was traded for the San Antonio Spurs before the 2019-20 season.
Over three seasons with the Spurs, Bertans played 220 games averaging 6.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 16.0 minutes per game. He shot the ball with a line of 44.4/40.4/84.6 over those three seasons.
In just 28 games for the Wizards, Bertans has averaged 15.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.7 rebounds in 30.0 minutes per game. He is shooting the ball with an efficiency line of 44.9/43.4/89.4, a marked improvement over his time with the Spurs.
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Bertans has ten games where he has scored 20 points or more, including a 32 point outburst against the Charlotte Hornets. Bertans has 19 games where he has scored ten points or more.
It appears that Bertans has been given a license to shoot, having 16 games with eight or more attempts from deep. When he is shooting 43.4 percent from outside, coach Scott Brooks is wise to use Bertans to space the floor.
The problem is that Bertans may have played himself out of the Washington Wizards price range next season. This is despite the Wizards are getting some wasted money off their books next season.
Ian Mahinmi is in the last year of his contract where he is collecting $15 million. C.J. Miles is also in the last year of his contract where he is taking home $ 8.7 million.
Neither has a great injury past or is producing at a level that justifies their salaries. However, it is the supermax deal given to John Wall which poses the biggest issue to re-signing Bertans. Over the next three seasons, Wall will be paid $40.8 million, $43.8 million and $46.8 million.
The Wizards have $98 million tied up in contracts for next season. The season after they have $104 million thanks to the rising cost of Bradley Beal‘s salary. On top of this fact, the Wizards only have ten players under contract for next season.
They need to sign some quality players with only $18 million worth of room for the salary cap. If they choose to go into the luxury tax, they will have $43 million to play with, but why would ownership pay tax for a team so far away from contention? These numbers are only approximate. They will not be set in stone until July 1.
The market for Bertans is going to be above $15 million per season. He will be looking for a long term deal and this would simply be unfeasible for the Wizards to entertain. Next year’s free agency class does not have the cream level talent of last season or the season after when Giannis Antetokounmpo becomes available.
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The top-end money this season will go to the likes of Anthony Davis, DeMar DeRozan, Gordon Hayward and Andre Drummond. Outside these four, there are no superstars to take the big money. Players at the Bertans level will get paid well this offseason. Therefore it appears that Davis Bertans has played himself out of the Washington Wizards price range.