The Washington Wizards are in the one place that NBA teams hate to be in: ‘no man's land.' That's that grey area between not being bad enough to grab a high draft pick, and not being good enough to actually do anything significant in the playoffs. The Wizards are currently 11-13 and in 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings. Even so, they are only two and half games back of the fourth place Atlanta Hawks with a lot of basketball left to be played.
The upcoming month is a crucial one for many NBA teams as they begin to reassess their rosters and decided whether to make a playoff push, or if they go full steam ahead on a tank. It hasn't quite reached that point yet for the Wizards but there have been rumors floating around that if the Wizards aren't able to turn things around and make a strong push, that other teams could begin calling about the availability of Kyle Kuzma. It appears for now though that the Wizards view Kuzma as a building block and have no current desire to part ways with him.
It also wouldn't make sense for the Wizards to abruptly nosedive into a tank job while they have an insane amount of money tied up in both Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis. Unless of course they look to move those two but there is absolutely zero indication that they have even considered doing so.
So is this team capable of putting together a mini-run come January? It's not very clear. Part of the reason for their inconsistency has been the availability of Beal who has missed time due to both injury and being placed in league health and safety protocols. It's possible that once he returns from this recent hamstring issue, the Wizards string together some consistency. In any case, regardless of what the Wizards ultimately end up doing the rest of the season, there is one player on the roster that would benefit greatly from a change of scenery, and that's Vernon Carey Jr.
A five-star recruit coming out of high school, Vernon Carey Jr. played one solid year at Duke before declaring for the 2020 NBA draft. He was projected to be a first-round pick but ended up slipping to No. 32 and the Charlotte Hornets. During his first season in the NBA, Carey saw limited playing time appearing in only 19 games for the Hornets and averaging 2.4 points per game. The following season he saw only seven games of action before being traded to the Wizards. He spent more time in the G League with the Greensboro Swarm.
After joining the Wizards, Carey only played in three games last season averaging nine minutes per game and four points. Likewise, he's only appeared in three games this season and is averaging more fouls (0.7) than points (0.0) and rebounds (0.3). He's spent most of this season with the Capital City Go-Go, the Wizards G League affiliate, and he's actually put up some solid numbers. Through nine games in the G League this season, he is putting up 21.6 points and 9.8 rebounds while shooting 60.2 percent from the field and a surprising 47.1 percent from three-point range.
As it stands, he is behind Porzingis, Daniel Gafford and Taj Gibson on the depth chart at center. The Wizards have a team option on his contract for next season and it's hard to envision them picking that up. Even if they do, next season Carey fares to be no better than third string center behind Porzingis and Gafford who has a big extension set to kick in.
Vernon Carey's career thus far almost mirrors former Hornets teammate Nick Richards. Richards spent his first two seasons in the NBA sitting on the bench and playing with the Swarm. Now in his third season, Richards is finally getting his opportunity to produce off the Hornets bench as per Spencer Davies of Basketballnews.com. Richards has been excelling as a rebounder, screener and finisher at the rim.
Those are exactly the types of things Carey can bring to a team. And if his G League numbers are any indication, he's been working on his three-point shot as well.
A trade would not require any interested team to give up much at this point. Carey still has plenty of untapped potential. He's not going to get that chance with the Wizards and it would be best for the team to find him a new home.
Follow Us
Subscribe