The Wizards reportedly offered John Wall a four-year, $170MM extension this offseason, though the point guard has yet to sign the agreement. Owner Ted Leonsis believes it’s only a matter of time before Wall commits to the franchise long-term, as Candace Buckner of The Washington Post relays.
“I told everyone that when John was coming off his rookie contract, we would sign him and he would be our bedrock player,” Leonsis said. “…I told everybody that we would keep Bradley Beal, and already everyone is talking about the [Wall] extension. So my prediction is John Wall will sign his extension. He wants to be here and my goal is to have no drama.”
Washington has become a tax-paying team for the first time in franchise history after re-signing Otto Porter to a $106.5MM deal. Leonsis added that he will continue to spend in order to keep the team’s core together.
“I think we’ve proven that we have as much resources and as much tools as anybody in the league and we’re in the tax,” Leonsis said. “We’ll spend whatever we need to get better, but we’re going to get better by keeping our core together and then adding to it.”
Wall entered the offseason knowing that an extension offer could be coming, though he reportedly wanted to see the front office’s plan for the future before committing to a long-term deal. In addition to bringing back Porter, the organization added Jodie Meeks, Mike Scott, and Tim Frazier to a bench unit that was arguably the team’s biggest weakness last season.
Last offseason, the team chased numerous big name free agents with its cap space and handed out lucrative deals to Ian Mahinmi, Jason Smith, and Andrew Nicholson. None of the three made a major impact during the 2016/17 season, but Leonsis believes this offseason’s moves, though not as flashy, will help the team even more.
“This offseason was much more settled,” Leonsis said, “but I think we’ll be much more successful than last year.”
And some of those moves from last offseason could still prove to be good moves, which would help even more. If Oubre and Porter can take another step forward this could be a really good team next year.
I don’t think the Mahinmi signing will ever look like a good deal. Hopefully he can at least play this year, just not sure where the minutes will come from with Gortat ahead of him
They need a quality big imo
Wall is in a position of power atm. He sees the big picture and I believe that’s why he hasn’t signed that extension. The east is weak and has been for years, yet the Wizards have not been able to make a deep playoff run. So in my opinion, Wall will not sign that extension forcing the Wizards to tweak their roster. If the fail to do so, Wall walks and signs with a contender when his contract is up.
They are very close like one player away.
Cousins there would be a real force