The Washington Wizards have had an exciting offseason this summer, adding second-overall draft pick Alex Sarr and free-agent Jonas Valunciunas to bolster the frontcourt. However, waiving shooting guard Landry Shamet was an ill-advised move that weakened the backcourt depth for no good reason.
Shamet is now being looked at by several different squads, via HoopsHype's Michael Scotto.
“Free agent guard Landry Shamet has received exploratory interest from the Milwaukee Bucks, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, and New York Knicks, league sources told HoopsHype,” Scotto wrote. “A possible return to the Washington Wizards also hasn't been ruled out, HoopsHype has learned.”
Washington declined Shamet's $11 million option for 2024-25, thus setting him free to the open market. The 27-year-old averaged 7.1 points per game on 43.1% shooting and 33.8% from deep across 15.8 minutes, albeit over just 46 games. Shamet has battled with injuries over the last couple of years, as he only played in 40 games in the 2022-23 campaign as well.
However, the former Phoenix Sun has a track record of being a valuable bench piece and could've been a good mentor for the Wizards' young core. While it makes sense that they want to give as many minutes to their young players as possible, Shamet is the type of player that could help accelerate their development. A career 38.4% shooter from three-point range, the Wichita State alum can help spread the floor as a catch-and-shoot option.
Who will Washington replace him with? If it does bring him back, how much should it spend?
The Wizards should not worry about the financial aspect of signing Shamet
Shamet's $11 million option may have been pricey in his case, due to his recent injury struggles. However, if there's any time for Washington to slightly overpay for a veteran rotational player, it's now. After a long period of darkness, the Wizards finally have financial flexibility, via Bullets Forever's Greg Finberg.
“A year ago, the Washington Wizards were in salary-cap hell,” Finberg explained. “Then-General Manager Tommy Sheppard was paying Bradley Beal $50+ million per year for the next four years and expected to give $30+ million extensions to both Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis.”
Beal's contract, which was one of the worst in the NBA, prevented Washington from blowing up the team and committing to a full-blown rebuild. Instead, it hovered in the dreaded “no-man's land;” not nearly good enough to contend, but not quite bad enough to get a high lottery pick, either.
That was until the club finally made a front-office change.
“Before Sheppard could further the damage, Wizards owner Ted Leonsis relieved him of his duties, ushering in a new era of Wizards basketball,” Finberg continued. “President of Monumental basketball Michael Winger and General Manager Will Dawkins have since stepped in to right the ship in Washington.”
Dawkins and company finally have the Wizards on the right path, which is focusing on prospect development rather than overpaying aging stars on a non-contending team.
“Now, under new leadership, the future looks bright for the first time since 2017,” Finberg claimed. “Beal’s supermax contract is off the books, Porzingis wasn’t given $30 million per season like many expected a year ago, and Kuzma’s contract turned out to be cheaper than anticipated.”
Now, Poole and Kuzma are the team's most expensive players. Poole will earn $29.7 million next season, while Kuzma will collect $23.5 million. Both are a far cry from Beal's monstrous contract.
The team's current payroll is just over $143 million, which is well under the NBA's first apron of $178.1 million. While Washington is technically around $3 million over the league's salary cap, it can still shell out $35 million more next year before running into any financial restrictions.
That's more than enough to fit in Shamet, who shouldn't command much more than $11 million per year in whatever deal he signs next. While the 2018 first-round draft pick may opt to sign with a contender instead, that would be money well spent for a Wizards team that is currently the league's sixth-youngest team with an average age of 24.6 years, via Spotrac.
However, there are a few free-agent guards on Shamet's level still on the board. Lonnie Walker IV, Evan Fournier, Gary Trent Jr., and Luke Kennard are all available, to name a few. With that being said, a new player would have to acclimate to the locker room and learn the system, and therefore would probably take longer to build chemistry with returning youngsters like Bilal Coulibaly and Corey Kispert.
Dawkins has done a fine job rebuilding a floundering franchise, but asset management is just as important as scouting the right process. Even if Washington didn't want to keep Shamet long-term, they could have picked up his option and fielded trade offers to get something in return.
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