Washington Wizards Rumors

Free Agent Rumors: Kings, Schröder, Horford, More

June 30th, 2025 at 8:52pm CST by Eli Cohen

Finding a point guard was a top priority for the Kings when free agency opened on Monday. According to NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link), the team arranged meetings via Zoom with both Dennis Schröder and Russell Westbrook.

Sacramento was also planning to meet with Malcolm Brogdon, sources tell Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link), who notes that the Wizards would be willing to accommodate a sign-and-trade deal involving Brogdon.

The Kings may end up adding more than one point guard, with Schröder looking like a lock to be one of them. Reports leading up to free agency indicated the two sides would likely agree to a two-year deal worth the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception, and Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link) has since reported that Schröder will reach an agreement to sign with Sacramento.

Here are a few more free agent rumors from around the NBA:

Al Horford is commanding a lot of attention, reports HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto (via Twitter). Scotto says that the Warriors, Knicks, Nuggets, Lakers, and Cavaliers have all expressed interest in luring Horford away from the Celtics since free agency opened, but Boston is also interested in retaining him, especially after losing Luke Kornet earlier in the day to the Spurs.
After agreeing to sign Tyus Jones to be the team’s backup point guard, Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press hears that reserve big man Moritz Wagner is expected to return to the Magic (Twitter link). Orlando declined its team option on Wagner over the weekend, but retained his Bird rights. Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel echoes Reynolds’ report (via Twitter), saying that expects Wagner to re-sign with the Magic.
The Warriors feel good about their chances of re-signing restricted free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga, according to ESPN’s Marc Spears (Twitter video link). Spears says the money Kuminga and his representatives are looking for does not seem to be on the market this summer, which could result in him remaining in Golden State.

Stein/Fischer’s Latest: Jerome, Kennard, Capela, Lakers, Bulls, More

June 30th, 2025 at 2:42pm CST by Luke Adams

In their latest round-up of scuttlebutt ahead of the start of free agency on Monday, Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link) reiterate or confirm a few of the rumors that have been percolating in recent days, writing that Dennis Schröder appears to be on track to join the Kings on a two-year deal worth the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, while D’Angelo Russell is widely expected to join the Mavericks on a two-year deal that utilizes the taxpayer mid-level.

Stein and Fischer also stress that the Grizzlies are increasingly regarded as the favorites to land free agent guard Ty Jerome, with rival teams expecting him to sign for a deal in the neighborhood of $9-10MM annually (Twitter link).

Additionally, Stein and Fischer confirm that the Rockets are now eyeing Luke Kennard in addition to Dorian Finney-Smith. Besides Houston, the Hawks and Nuggets are considered potential suitors for Kennard, one of the league’s best outside shooters, according to The Stein Line duo.

Here are a few more fresh pieces of intel from Stein and Fischer:

The Clippers are viewed as a viable candidate to land free agent center Clint Capela. Los Angeles is known to be in the market for an Ivica Zubac backup, with Drew Eubanks not expected to return.
If the Lakers end up losing Finney-Smith in free agency, they’re expected to express interest in another talented perimeter defender, De’Anthony Melton, Stein and Fischer report. Dan Woike of The Athletic (Twitter link) has also heard that there’s mutual interest between Melton and the Lakers. The veteran guard signed for the full non-taxpayer mid-level a year ago, but seems unlikely to land another deal in that range after missing nearly the entire season with a torn ACL.
There’s a “strong expectation” that free agent point guard Tre Jones will remain with the Bulls, Stein and Fischer say. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network previously reported that the odds of a reunion between the two sides were rising following the team’s Lonzo Ball trade.
The Bucks are working on potential Pat Connaughton trade scenarios and have a couple possible pathways to a deal, per Stein and Fischer. Milwaukee would likely have to attach a sweetener to move Connaughton, but perhaps could acquire a player in return who would upgrade the rotation.
The Wizards have been gauging the trade market for a pair of veterans on expiring contracts, guard Marcus Smart and big man Kelly Olynyk, Stein and Fischer write. Olynyk technically isn’t even a Wizard yet, as the deal sending him from New Orleans to Washington will become official after the July moratorium — it sounds like there’s a chance he’s flipped to another team.
DeMarre Carroll and former Wizards assistant Brian Randle are expected to have two of the front-of-bench spots on Jordan Ott‘s coaching staff, but the new Suns coach is still seeking a lead assistant who has previous head coaching experience, according to Stein and Fischer.

Wizards Waive Anthony Gill

June 29th, 2025 at 4:31pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Wizards have requested waivers on 32-year-old forward Anthony Gill, the team announced (via Twitter).

The Athletic’s David Aldridge, who first reported the news, notes that today was the deadline for the team to either guarantee Gill’s $2.5MM salary or waive him.

Gill has spent five years in Washington, averaging 3.4 points and 1.7 rebounds in 230 career games. According to Aldridge, the veteran is held in high esteem both among players and the front office.

Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link) confirms Aldridge’s assessment of the team’s appreciation of Gill and adds that it’s very likely that the two sides will be motivated to find a deal that brings the veteran back to the team, assuming there’s room on the roster. The Wizards have made a clear effort to prioritize adding experience and leadership to aid in the development of their young nucleus.

Suns’ Gillepsie, Lakers’ Koloko Among Two-Way Players Receiving QOs

June 29th, 2025 at 8:59am CST by Luke Adams

A series of players who finished the 2024/25 season on two-way contracts have received qualifying offers from their respective teams, making them free agents, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac. Those players are as follows (all links go to Twitter):

Isaiah Crawford, Kings (link)
Collin Gillespie, Suns link)
Harrison Ingram, Spurs (link)
Daniss Jenkins, Pistons (link)
Spencer Jones, Nuggets (link)
Christian Koloko, Lakers (link)
Riley Minix, Spurs (link)
Jacob Toppin, Hawks (link)
Luke Travers, Cavaliers (link)
Tristan Vukcevic, Wizards (link)
Keaton Wallace, Hawks (link)

In each case, the player’s qualifying offer is equivalent to another one-year, two-way deal, with a small portion (approximately $85K) guaranteed.

While a rival team could technically sign any of these players to an offer sheet during free agency, we essentially never see that happen with two-way free agents. Most of them end up either accepting their two-way QOs or agreeing to new standard contracts with their current teams.

Gillespie, who turned 26 on Wednesday, is among the players who made a strong case for a promotion to a standard contract this past season. He averaged 5.9 points, 2.4 assists, and 2.4 rebounds in 14.0 minutes per game for Phoenix across 33 appearances (nine starts) and made 43.3% of his three-point tries.

Koloko (2.4 PPG and 2.5 RPG in 37 games), Vukcevic (9.4 PPG, 3.7 RPG, and .496/.373/.776 shooting in 35 games), and Wallace (5.4 PPG and 2.6 APG in 31 games) also played rotation minutes for their respective clubs in 2024/25.

Sunday is the deadline for teams to make qualifying offers to players who are eligible for restricted free agency.

Wizards Acquire Dillon Jones From Thunder

June 28th, 2025 at 8:38pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Thunder are sending Dillon Jones and a future second-round pick to the Wizards, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

Oklahoma City confirmed the deal in a press release, announcing that it received shooting guard Colby Jones in return. Jones’ $2.22MM contract for next season is non-guaranteed, and he was waived immediately.

The second-rounder headed to Washington in the deal is for 2029 and originally belonged to Houston, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Dillon Jones, a 23-year-old swingman, was originally selected by Washington with the 26th pick last year, but he was traded to New York and then to Oklahoma City on draft night. He appeared in 54 games as a rookie for OKC, averaging 2.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 10.2 minutes per night.

Jones will be part of a youth movement for the Wizards, who had two first-round picks in this year’s draft, along with three last year. Jones is the second member of the 2024 draft class that Washington has added in a trade, joining AJ Johnson, who was acquired from Milwaukee in February.

The deal unloads salary and opens a roster spot for the Thunder, who had been set to have 15 players return from this year’s championship team. The move creates an opening for rookie center Thomas Sorber, who was selected with the 15th pick on Wednesday.

Dillon Jones will make a guaranteed $2.75MM in 2025/26, with team options worth $2.88MM and $5.2MM, respectively, for the following two seasons. The Wizards will have to make a decision on that ’26/27 option (worth $2.88MM) by October 31 of this year.

Colby Jones, 23, appeared in 15 games with Washington after being acquired in a three-team deal at the trade deadline. He averaged 8.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists with the Wizards.

Because Colby’s salary was fully non-guaranteed and Dillon is earning more than the minimum, the Wizards had to use a traded player exception to complete the deal. They used the one generated in February’s trade of Patrick Baldwin, the smallest of the three TPEs they controlled.

The Thunder will create a new TPE worth the difference between the two players’ 2024/25 salaries, approximately $502K. However, that exception is almost certainly too small to ever be used.

Wizards To Sign Keshon Gilbert To Exhibit 10 Contract

June 27th, 2025 at 1:39pm CST by Arthur Hill

Iowa State point guard Keshon Gilbert will sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Wizards, according to Sean Cunningham of KCRA in Sacramento (Twitter link).

Gilbert, 21, transferred in 2023 after playing his first two collegiate seasons at UNLV. He was a second team All-Big 12 selection in 2024 and a third-team choice this year, averaging 13.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 29 games as a senior.

Gilbert suffered a late-season groin injury that forced him to miss the Cyclones’ final seven games and the NCAA Tournament. He recovered in time to participate in May’s G League Elite Camp and the rest of the pre-draft process.

He was ranked 84th by Sam Vecenie of The Athletic on his list of this year’s top 100 draft prospects.

Gilbert is the second undrafted player to agree to terms with Washington since the draft ended, joining St. John’s guard Kadary Richmond.

With an Exhibit 10 deal, Gilbert can earn a bonus worth up to $85K if he’s waived before the season starts and spends at least 60 days with the Wizards’ G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go. Exhibit 10 contracts can also be converted into two-way deals.

Wizards, Kadary Richmond Agree To Deal

June 27th, 2025 at 10:57am CST by Luke Adams

After going undrafted this week, St. John’s guard Kadary Richmond has agreed to sign with the Wizards, agent Daniel Hazan tells NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link).

Richmond spent a year at Syracuse and three seasons with Seton Hall before joining St. John’s ahead of the 2024/25 campaign. As a “super senior,” he filled up the box score by averaging 12.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 2.0 steals in 32.3 minutes per game across 36 outings (35 starts).

Richmond was named to the All-Big East second team in 2025 after making the first team with Seton Hall in 2024. He was the No. 86 prospect on ESPN’s big board prior to the draft and ranked 29th among the players who went undrafted.

The exact details of Richmond’s contract are unclear. Typically, when the agent for an undrafted rookie doesn’t specify the terms, it’s an Exhibit 10 agreement, which is essentially a non-guaranteed training camp contract. But St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino sent out a tweet today congratulating Richmond and his Red Storm teammate RJ Luis Jr. for their “two-way” deals.

The Wizards won’t be able to officially sign Richmond until after the new league year begins in July, so we should get clarity on his contract details at that point, if not earlier.

Southeast Notes: Mann, Johnson, Riley, Newell, Martins, DeVos

June 26th, 2025 at 8:37pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Hornets fully expect to retain restricted free agent Tre Mann, executive VP of basketball operations Jeff Peterson said during a press conference, per Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).

“He’s a priority … I don’t see any reason why he’s not back,” Peterson said.

The Hornets, who hold Mann’s Bird rights, must make a $6.96MM qualifying offer in the coming days in order to make him a restricted free agent. If Charlotte passes on that QO, the point guard would reach unrestricted free agency and could sign with any team without the Hornets getting the opportunity to match. Peterson’s comments strongly suggest the Hornets will extend the QO.

Earlier in the week, it was reported that Mann had fully recovered from his back disc herniation. He has participated in all of Charlotte’s offseason activity and 5-on-5 scrimmages after playing in just 13 games last season.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

The Wizards selected Texas guard Tre Johnson (No. 6) and Illinois wing Will Riley (No. 21) in the first round. General manager Will Dawkins expects Johnson to have an immediate offensive impact, according to Candace Buckner of the Washington Post. “Pound for pound, if he’s not the best shooter, [Johnson] is one of the best shooters in the draft,” Dawkins said. “But that’s not his only skill. He’s someone that can make plays … for others and averaged 19 points a game in the SEC, led the whole conference in scoring as a freshman, like in conference play. That’s hard to do.” According to Varun Shankar of the Post, the team’s brass was impressed by Riley’s competitiveness during 3-on-3 workouts when he visited the Wizards. The front office also believes Riley has more skills than he was allowed to show with the Illini. “We think there’s more there to unlock,” Dawkins said. “That’s why we had him as high as we did, and we’re happy to have him.”
The Hawks traded down from the No. 13 pick on Wednesday to No. 23 and received an unprotected first-rounder next year from the Pelicans. They still got a quality talent in Georgia’s Asa Newell, according to Rod Beard of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You don’t ever know if somebody’s going to be available when you move down that far,” Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh said. “We felt good about a bucket of players if we did get there, and it just was the right thing to do for us. It just made sense for us and where we’re at, and I think it just helped our future a little bit. So, yeah, it’s a good trade.”
Alex Martins is stepping down as CEO of the Magic after 14 years and taking on a new role as the vice chair of the organization, Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel reports. Martins will still serve as a senior advisor to the Magic board of directors to advance long-term strategic initiatives and as a resource to team executives. The Magic don’t have plans to hire a new CEO. The succession plan also includes the third generation of the DeVos family ownership. Magic vice president of shareholder engagement Ryan DeVos will take the role of managing director while Cole DeVos will relocate to Orlando at the beginning of the 2025/26 season to work more closely with the franchise in a full-time management development program. It shows that the DeVos family has no plans to sell the franchise, Beede notes.

Wizards Pick Will Riley At No. 21

June 25th, 2025 at 9:37pm CST by Arthur Hill

After trading down from No. 18 to No. 21, the Wizards have made Illinois guard/forward Will Riley their second pick of the night. Washington drafted Tre Johnson at No. 6.

The Big Ten’s Sixth Man of the Year as a freshman in 2024/25, Riley scored 12.6 points per game on .432/.326/.724 shooting while also contributing 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 25.7 minutes per contest.

Riley, a native of Kitchener, Ontario in Canada, has a relatively thin frame and “lacks a degree of burst and physicality,” writes Jonathan Givony of ESPN. However, he has good height (6’8″) for a wing and has shown legitimate potential as a scorer and play-maker.

Riley was selected one spot after his former Fighting Illini teammate Kasparas Jakucionis, who went to Miami at No. 20.

Washington was able to get assets in the deal with Utah and still land a player who is high on their draft board. Jake Fischer of The Stein Line hears there was “plenty of buzz” about the Wizards taking Riley at No. 18 if they had stayed there (Twitter link).

Washington is parting with small forward Saddiq Bey in a trade with New Orleans, and Khris Middleton isn’t guaranteed to stay on the roster after exercising his player option, which gives him a $33.3MM expiring contract. There could be a chance for Riley to earn regular minutes right away.

With two first-round picks tonight, plus three last year and a mid-season trade for AJ Johnson, Washington has put together a roster that’s very heavy on first- and second-year players. Although they were disappointed to fall to sixth in the lottery after an 18-64 season, the Wizards still wound up with a decent draft haul.

Wizards Trade No. 18 Pick Walter Clayton Jr. To Jazz

June 25th, 2025 at 9:17pm CST by Luke Adams

11:46 pm: The trade is official, according to a press release from the Jazz.

9:17 pm: After drafting Ace Bailey fifth overall earlier in the evening, the Jazz have traded up to No. 18 and used their second first-round pick of the night on Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr., reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

Washington is acquiring the Nos. 21 and 43 picks in the 2025 draft and a pair of future second-rounders in the deal, tweets Jake Fischer of The Stein Line. Those future second-rounders are picks in 2031 and 2032, per Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

The Wizards used the 21st pick to select Illinois wing Will Riley.

Clayton, a 6’3″ guard, is coming off a memorable senior season. He was a consensus first-team All-American, earned a spot on the All-SEC first team, and led the Gators to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and then a national title.

Clayton had a handful of big games in the NCAA tournament, racking up 30 points against Texas Tech in the Elite Eight and 34 against Auburn in the Final Four. He was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four after registering 11 points, seven assists, and five rebounds in the championship game against Houston.

A Florida native, Clayton averaged 18.3 points, 4.2 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game on the season, with a strong .448/.386/.875 shooting line.

This will be the third consecutive year in which the Jazz have used a first-round pick on a guard. Clayton will join a backcourt that features 2023’s 16th overall pick Keyonte George and 2024’s 29th overall pick Isaiah Collier, along with veterans Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson, though there’s no guarantee all of those players will still be on the roster by the time the season begins this October.