Washington Wizards: How much is Davis Bertans worth in NBA free agency

How much should the Washington Wizards spend to keep Davis Bertans?

As good a Davis Bertans 2019-20 season was, it remains by far his best season to date. Remember he set career highs in just about every category, if he can replicate that year after year that’s fantastic but chances are his 2019-20 season represents something close to his ceiling. Gallinari got his contract due to a long track record of production, not simply off a single year burst in production.

Even though Bertans’ 2019-20 was as good as Danilo Gallinari’s 2014-17 on a per 36-minute basis, it obscures the truth. Each minute a player is on the court their effectiveness starts to decline due to physical fatigue. Gallinari was about as good as Bertans but he was able to play five more minutes a game. Every second one of your best players is not on the court a lesser player is. Bertans played roughly 85-percent of the minutes that Gallinari did, but that 15-percent difference in minutes played is far more valuable than it is on the surface.

For example, in 2019-20 only one player averaged more than 37 minutes per game, four averaged between 36 and 37 minutes, seven between 35 and 36 minutes, etc. The best ability is availability and Bertans is not very special in that regard. $15 million per season would represent close to 13-percent of the salary cap heading into next season. The players scheduled to make that much are Dennis Schroder, Danny Green, Andre Iguodala, Jonas Valanciunas, Bobby Portis, and Cody Zeller. Bertans might be better than all of these players but by how much? He can’t be worth more than the $21 million Victor Oladipo is set to make, or the $22.9 million going to Jaylen Brown.

The Wizards are $15 million away from being above the salary cap threshold. Using that money to resign Davis Bertans would be money well spent. However, each dollar they go above that amount limits their financial flexibility in the future and their ability to add to a roster that won 25 games out of 72 played. The Wizards if they run into a bidding war should get creative with Bertans’ contract.

The Wizards could give Bertans a player option after two seasons and sell him on the idea that the cap will have risen substantially in that time and that teams will have more financial power farther removed from the coronavirus pandemic. Another option would be to try and backload the contract significantly.

What the Washington Wizards don’t need is another bad contract to play spades with John Wall’s own. Bertans is a nice player but only at the right price in NBA free agency. That price is between $15 million and $18 million for three to four years. If Bertans wants a contract that starts with the number two the Wizards should tell him to go have fun winning 20 games with the Atlanta Hawks.