A triumvirate of Wizards big men in Dāvis Bertāns, Rui Hachimura and Moritz Wagner have cleared the NBA’s health and safety protocols and will be joining their teammates in a battle with the Hawks tomorrow, per Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Bertāns, Hachiumura and Wagner represent crucial additions to Washington’s frontcourt rotation, especially given the absence of injured starting center Thomas Bryant, who tore his left ACL and is out of commission for the rest of the season. With Bryant out, second-year starting power forward Hachimura, the No. 9 pick in the 2019 draft, becomes the team’s third-leading scorer at 13.6 PPG.
Bertāns will add much-needed outside shooting for the Wizards. The team expected him to be a key contributor when it re-signed him to a lucrative five-year, $80MM contract during the 2020 offseason. Bertāns is averaging 36.0% from long range on 7.8 attempts per night this season.
Katz notes that Wizards rookie forward Deni Avdija, reserve small forward Troy Brown Jr. and backup point guard Ish Smith are still in the league’s coronavirus health and safety protocols and will be unavailable for the immediate future. Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington adds that Avdija, Brown, and Smith will need to log practice minutes once they clear protocols before a return to game action.
The depleted Wizards saw several games postponed for 13 days after the club was unable to field eight healthy players. At 3-11, the team currently holds the worst record in the NBA by percentage.
Rui is someone I believe has a big future. Sure would like to see him get more involved. I like Deni too
Bledsoe, Ball, Reddick, for R. Westbrick.
If NOP wants to tank, and DC needs bodies…