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If you forgot to pay attention to the Washington Wizards this season, you didn't miss much. Once again, the Wizards had a very Wizards-y year, selling out for a doomed play-in berth and refusing to tank even as two of their best players head into NBA free agency this summer. Sitting at 34-46 and in 11th place in the East, the Wizards occupy the uncomfortable netherworld of being too bad to be a serious team, but too good to nab a franchise savior with a top three pick in the draft. As such, the Wizards enter a quietly franchise-defining offseason as their free agents decisions will force them to confront the rupture between the team that they are and the team they presumably want to be. These are the three players that the Wizards must re-sign in 2023 NBA free agency.
Kristaps Porzingis
Since getting dumped by the Dallas Mavericks at the 2022 trade deadline, Porzingis has been the player that everybody hoped he could be. No longer concerned with having to accommodate Luka Doncic, Porzingis has expanded his game to fill the space that Washington has afforded him. As a result, Porzingis has easily had the best year of his career, averaging 23.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.5 blocks per game while posting a 62.7 percent True Shooting, the highest of his career. Despite the fact that the whole super tall guy who can shoot thing is a lot more common in 2023 than in 2014, Porzingis is still a unicorn amongst unicorns. He's the tallest player in the NBA to make more than two threes per game and leverages his shooting gravity to attack the rim, sporting a league-high 76.3 percent effective field goal percentage on drives.
Washington helped turn Porzingis into a star, but now they must determine if it's worth paying him like one. It is. Still only 27 years-old, Porzingis is just entering his prime and could easily be the Wizards' franchise lodestar for the next half decade if they re-sign him as their marquee move of the 2023 NBA free agency period.
Kyle Kuzma
Like Porzingis, Kuzma represents another hugely successful reclamation project. Acquired from the Lakers in 2021 as part of the Russell Westbrook trade, Kuzma has blossomed into a dangerous, versatile offensive weapon in Washington. Whereas the presence of Lebron James and Anthony Davis forced Kuzma to slink around the margins of the Lakers' offense, he's been able to flex his on-ball skills with the Wizards. In his second full season with the Wizards, Kuzma has leveled up as both a scorer and a playmaker, setting a career high in both points (21.2 points per game) and assists (3.7 assists per game). Although Kuzma isn't great at any one thing, it's rare for a player to be good in so many different, unique ways. Kuzma is one of just 16 players taller than 6'8 to average more than 3.5 assists and one just eight guys taller than 6'8 to make more than two three-pointers per game; Lebron James is the only other player besides Kuzma who's on both of those lists.
Accordingly, the Wizards decided against trading Kuzma at February's trade deadline and are smartly looking to lock him up with a long-term contract extension. If they can keep both Kuzma and Porzingis, the Wizards would have one of the most interesting and skilled frontcourt duos in the entire NBA with Kuzma and Porzingis threatening defenses from all areas of the court. Presumably, Kuzma won't command a max deal like Porzingis, but re-signing him would still be a major financial commitment from the Wizards and be a major step-up from the bargain-bin three-year, $39 million extension Kuzma signed with the Lakers in 2020.
In this sense, the Wizards are proof of the perils of team-building. Taken individually, it's totally understandable to give Bradley Beal the supermax and for the Wizards to reward free agents Porzingis and Kuzma with lucrative deals. Collectively, though, these three deals would take up almost the entire salary cap on their own, locking the Wizards into a roster that couldn't even qualify for the 10 team play-in tournament.
Kendrick Nunn
Outside of Porzingis and Kuzma, the Wizards don't have any notable free agents—the only other guys with expiring contracts are veterans Kendrick Nunn and Taj Gibson and a two-way player in Jay Huff. Of this motley crew, Nunn is probably the most essential for Washington to bring back, if only because maybe they can revitalize his career the same way they did Porzingis and Kuzma. In his 29 games with the Wizards, Nunn has been solid, seemingly rediscovering his shooting stroke after it abandoned him with the Lakers. In just 13.7 minutes per game, Nunn is putting up 7.4 points per game and nailing almost 40 percent of his threes. He may never again be as productive as he was in Miami, but it's worth it for the Wizards to give Nunn a minimum contract to see how much juice he has left.
