1:12pm: As Robbins tweets, Gill’s signing is now official, per NBA.com’s transactions log.
12:57pm: The Wizards are re-signing free agent forward Anthony Gill to a one-year contract, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Gill has spent the past five seasons in Washington, largely serving as a veteran leader and mentor to his younger teammates. Although he was waived in late June before his $2,546,675 salary for 2025/26 would’ve become guaranteed, multiple reports from Josh Robbins of The Athletic — including at the time of Gill’s release — indicated that both sides were interested in a reunion, so the signing had been anticipated.
After going undrafted out of Virginia in 2016, Gill started his professional career overseas, playing in Turkey with Yesilgiresun Belediye in 2016/17 before spending three years with Russian club Khimki, which competed in the EuroLeague at the time. He parlayed his strong international play into multiple contracts with the Wizards, his first and only NBA team to this point.
Gill, who will turn 33 years old in October — a few days before ’25/26 begins — appeared in 51 games last season, holding modest averages of 2.5 points and 1.3 rebounds in 7.8 minutes per contest. In addition to the Wizards, the 6’7″ forward was also linked to multiple EuroLeague teams this summer.
As Robbins explained last month, the new deal is a win for both sides, as Gill will earn more on a veteran’s minimum contract ($2,667,947) than his old contract would’ve paid him and the league’s reimbursement policy will reduce the Wizards’ salary cap hit to $2,296,274, equivalent to a player with two years of experience.
Interestingly, the signing of Gill puts the Wizards at 16 players on standard contracts, one above the regular-season limit. While Justin Champagnie is on a non-guaranteed deal, he should be a lock to make the roster after a breakout ’24/25 campaign.
Assuming Gill makes the cut, perhaps one of Washington’s new additions, like Malaki Branham or Dillon Jones, could be the odd man out. For what it’s worth, Jones ($2.75MM) makes far less money than Branham ($4.96MM).
The Wizards also brought back Marvin Bagley III on a minimum-salary deal last month. His contract is guaranteed, but he technically would have the smallest dead-money cap hit.
Always a quality guy to have for team rapport and helping the young guys. Great teammate in general. The question is who gets squeezed out to add him. The wiz do have an open 2 way slot now so theres some room to get creative, but there are lots of young guys vying for a chance to prove themselves and one less guaranteed spot available for them.
This is just speculation, but if no one is traded before the season begins — certainly not a given — Jones would be my pick for most likely candidate to be waived.
I was thinking that too. Watching some highlights of the guy, he looks to need more structured methodical paced play-calling. He has good instincts in and around the paint and cutting to the basket. He wont give up on plays at the offensive end from what I see. But as constructed, the Wiz are currently a fast paced bunch of athletes type of playstyle. They’re going to try to make every game a track meet. I see the talent Jones has, just probably the wrong fit in my opinion.
Has a guy like Dillon Jones ever been waived before? 1st round pick waived after just his first season on his rookie deal, after only playing like 20 games? Primo did too but that was for different reasons…
It’s fairly unusual, but yeah, it happens. They’re almost always traded first. Looking back at the past few years, TyTy Washington (29th overall in 2022) was the most recent example — rookie season with Rockets, traded to Atlanta and then OKC and waived by Thunder in August 2023. Jalen Hood-Schifino was pretty similar, but not the exact same circumstances — Lakers declined his third-year option last October after selecting him No. 17 overall in 2023 then traded him to Utah in February as part of the Luka blockbuster (the Jazz waived him).
Yeah, it happens. Zhaire Smith got waived like that, but for health reasons. Foreign guys sometimes get drafted in the first round, play like 40 games in 1-2 years and are never seen again.
Dillon looked really out of shape in the Summer League, even more than he did in OKC.