Wizards wing Corey Kispert will miss the rest of the 2024/25 season after undergoing surgery on Tuesday in New York City to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb, the team announced (via Twitter).
According to the Wizards, Kispert is expected to make a full recovery from the injury – which he sustained in the third quarter on Saturday vs. Denver – prior to the start of next season.
Kispert made 61 appearances off the bench for the Wizards this season, averaging 11.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 26.3 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .451/.364/.852. A talented outside shooter, the former Gonzaga standout has knocked down 38.2% of 5.2 three-point attempts per game over the course of his four-year NBA career.
Kispert was one of 11 players to sign a rookie scale extension during the 2024 offseason, having finalized a four-year, $54MM deal that will go into effect in 2025/26. He’s the second of those 11 rookie extension recipients to be ruled out with a season-ending injury in the past 24 hours — Pelicans swingman Trey Murphy sustained a shoulder injury on Monday that will prevent him from suiting up again in ’24/25.
With Kispert sidelined for the rest of the season and Bilal Coulibaly likely in the same boat due to a hamstring injury, there will be more playing time open on the wing in D.C. for players further down on the depth chart.
AJ Johnson, Jaylen Martin, and Colby Jones are among the players who should be in line for increased roles. All three established new career highs in minutes on Monday in Portland with Kispert on the shelf — Johnson played 35 minutes, Martin played 28, and Jones logged 25.
The Wizards and Bucks have explored a potential trade that would involve Milwaukee forward Khris Middleton and Washington forward Kyle Kuzma, two league sources tell Josh Robbins and David Aldridge of The Athletic. As we relayed on Monday, Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link) previously reported that the Bucks have had conversations about pursuing Kuzma.
Swapping Middleton for Kuzma would allow the Bucks to move below the second tax apron, Robbins and Aldridge outline, saving them money and generating more roster flexibility while also allowing them to avoid having their 2032 first-round pick become “frozen” at season’s end.
However, Kuzma is in the midst of the worst season of his career and The Athletic’s duo says the Wizards would be seeking draft capital in order to acquire Middleton, who has battled injuries in recent years.
A straight-up swap of the two players also wouldn’t quite be possible due to the difference in their salaries, so for matching purposes, the Wizards would have to send out a second player along with Kuzma ($23.5MM cap hit; $26.5MM apron hit) in order to take back Middleton ($31.7MM cap hit; $34MM apron hit).
The Bucks are operating about $6.5MM above the second apron and acquiring a second player would keep them above that threshold. So if getting out of second-apron territory is a goal, they’d need to either find a third-team facilitator or send out a second player themselves.
It’s unclear how much traction the two teams have gained in their talks, according to Robbins and Aldridge. When healthy, Middleton is a more valuable all-around player than Kuzma, but he also has been more injury-prone, is four years older, and is more expensive. Middleton holds a $34MM player option for next season, while Kuzma will make $21.5MM in 2025/26 and $19.4MM in ’26/27 on his declining contract.
As for the Wizards, they’re more willing to trade Kuzma now than they were a year ago, when they passed on an opportunity to send him to Dallas, according to The Athletic. But Robbins and Aldridge also note that the forward’s value is at its lowest point, given his struggles this season (.420/.281/.602 shooting), so it may not be the right time for Washington to move him.
Here’s more on the Wizards:
Wizards two-way guard Jared Butler is stepping up in recent games and has impressed each time he’s gotten a chance at extended minutes this season, The Washington Post’s Varun Shankar observes. Over the past three games, Butler is averaging 19.0 points, 2.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists while finishing with a positive plus/minus in three Washington losses. He registered season highs of 26 points and seven assists on Wednesday against Philadelphia.
The Wizards were without Jordan Poole for all three of Butler’s recent big games and Malcolm Brogdon for two of those outings. In the 11 games this season in which Butler has played 10 or more minutes, he’s averaging 11.4 PPG and 4.1 APG on .477/.406/.714 shooting.
“Just settles us down, gets us organized, has the ability to get in the paint, create for himself, create for others,” head coach Brian Keefe said. “His defense is really good, too — pressuring the ball, picking up full court. He’s doing the stuff that we want him to.”
Butler originally signed with the Wizards on a two-way deal in the summer of 2023 before having that deal converted late last season. Facing a roster crunch last October, the Wizards waived him but were able to re-add him on a two-way contract after no team put in a claim for the former Baylor guard. If Washington clears a standard roster spot this season, Butler is a candidate to have his two-way deal converted.
We have more from the Southeast Division:
Luka Doncic (left heel contusion) has been ruled out for the Mavericks‘ game vs. the Clippers on Thursday, while Kyrie Irving (right shoulder soreness) is questionable to play, writes Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal (Substack link).
There was some good news on the injury front for Dallas, however, as neither Naji Marshall nor Maxi Kleber is on the injury report for Thursday’s game. Marshall has missed five of the Mavs’ past six games while battling an illness; Kleber was unavailable for the past three due to an illness and a rib injury.
Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington, D.C., has put forth a proposal for the city to buy Capital One Arena from Monumental Sports, the Wizards‘ parent company, according to Michael Brice-Saddler and Sam Fortier of The Washington Post.
The plan proposes the city buy the arena for $87.5MM, with that money coming out of a $515MM fund that city council approved earlier this year for renovations and expansions to the building. The idea would be to lease the arena back to the Wizards, with that lease extending through at least 2050.
D.C. already owns the land under Capital One Arena, Brice-Saddler and Fortier write, and if Monumental maintains control of the building, Ted Leonsis‘ company would be required to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes back to city on the money it receives for arena renovations, which are projected to cost $800MM in total (with at least $285MM being contributed by Monumental). That wouldn’t be the case if the arena is sold to the city.
“This is the deal that was always contemplated when Mayor Bowser and the D.C. Council approved a $515 million improvement in Capital One Arena,” deputy mayor for planning and economic development Nina Albert said in a statement. “This is the best structure to effectuate that; it is what enables an efficient use of public money to be fully reinvested in this project.”
Here’s more on the Wizards:
Although the Warriors think Jonathan Kuminga has All-Star potential, they weren’t willing to sign him at this time to the kind of long-term rookie scale extension he was seeking without a more concrete belief that he’ll reach that level, writes Monte Poole of NBC Bay Area.
[RELATED: No Extension For Jonathan Kuminga, Warriors]
As Poole explains, no one on Golden State’s roster besides Stephen Curry is making $30MM+ per year and Kuminga was seeking a deal that was worth “well beyond that amount.” While the Warriors aren’t opposed to making that sort of commitment to the fourth-year forward, they want to see more from him this season before signing off on such a significant contract.
“He took a leap last season,” one source told Poole. “They want to see another one before they make that investment. He’s still under their control. If Kuminga has a strong season, I know they’ll take care of him.”
Without a rookie scale extension in place, Kuminga will be a restricted free agent in 2025, giving the Warriors the right to match any offer sheet he signs with a new team.
Here are a few more notes from around the NBA on the contract extensions that did and didn’t get done on Monday:
5:16pm: Kispert’s extension is official, the Wizards announced in a press release.
“Corey is someone who positively impacts our environment daily. He consistently shows up for the organization as both a player and a teammate, embodying the passion and professionalism we value,” Dawkins said in a statement. “We are excited that he has the opportunity to continue his growth and development in Washington. He’s a relentless worker who has added to his game each season. We look forward to his further evolution in the coming years.”
3:53pm: The Wizards are signing swingman Corey Kispert to a four-year, $54MM rookie scale extension, agents Mark Bartelstein and Andy Shiffman tell Marc Stein (Twitter link).
The deal will include a team option on the fourth year, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Kispert, 25, has been a regular part of Washington’s rotation since being selected out of Gonzaga with the 15th overall pick in the 2021 draft. He averaged a career-high 13.4 points per game last season while also chipping in 2.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 25.8 minutes per night across 80 outings (22 starts).
Kispert’s calling card is his ability to knock down outside shots. Over the past two seasons, he has converted 40.2% of 5.6 three-point attempts per contest, making him a valuable floor-spacer.
Since Kispert was drafted by the Wizards’ previous front office, it wasn’t clear leading up to Monday’s extension deadline whether the current decision-makers would value him highly enough to sign him to a long-term deal.
However, president Michael Winger and general manager Will Dawkins showed last fall in extending Deni Avdija that they’re willing to lock up young talent if the price is reasonable, even if that player was a carryover from the previous regime and isn’t necessarily a lock to be in the team’s long-term plans — Avdija was traded this July.
It’s possible Kispert could eventually emerge as a trade candidate too for the rebuilding Wizards, though moving him in 2024/25 would be tricky due to the poison pill provision.
A full four-year mid-level exception contract in 2025 is projected to be worth just over $60MM, so Kispert’s contract will come in a little below that figure.
The deadline for teams to sign players to rookie scale contract extensions falls on Monday and will force several clubs to make tough decisions.
The Warriors have two players under consideration for rookie scale extensions: Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody. As we relayed Friday evening, Moody appears more likely than Kuminga to receive an extension by Monday. Moody is in line to receive minutes at the wing spot in the wake up Klay Thompson‘s departure, and NBA insider Jake Fischer reports he could earn more than $10MM per season on his extension (Threads link).
However, Kuminga is seeking a near-max contract that would pay him north of $30MM annually. According to Fischer, the Warriors have “never seemed intent” on paying the forward that kind of money ahead of the season. That tracks with earlier reporting, which suggested that both sides are content to wait to see if Kuminga takes another step forward in 2024/25 and helps propel the team back into contention as its second- or third-best player. In that scenario, he would presumably be rewarded in restricted free agency next offseason.
Moody averaged 8.1 points and 3.0 rebounds per game last season while Kuminga broke out, averaging 16.1 PPG on 52.9% shooting from the field.
We have more on this year’s rookie scale extension candidates:
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, new Hawks big man Larry Nance Jr. singled out Jalen Johnson and Vit Krejci as players who have impressed him in training camp, tweets Kevin Chouinard of Hawks.com.
“He dominated practice today,” Nance said of Johnson. “He was awesome. He was knocking down threes in transition. He’s been really, really impressive, and I’m trying to push him into speaking some more and leading the group and breaking the huddles and stuff like that, because he’s going to be a guy in this league and with that comes ‘heavy is the head that wears the crown.’ He’s going to wear the crown one day, and he is being groomed for that.”
Nance, who was acquired from the Pelicans this offseason in the Dejounte Murray trade, said he wasn’t very familiar with Krejci’s game before he joined Atlanta, but that has quickly changed.
“The dude can really play,” Nance said of Krejci. “He passes, he dribbles, he can shoot it. He’s shooting the heck out of it. And he defends. … Vit has been super impressive.”
Johnson is eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason ahead of the final season of his rookie contract, while Krejci just signed a new four-year contract with Atlanta over the summer.
Here’s more from the Southeast:
Exploring a potential deal for Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma on Wednesday, the Kings discussed a framework that would have sent their No. 13 overall pick to Washington as part of the package and moved Sacramento down to No. 26, according to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. If that deal had happened, the Wizards would’ve had a third lottery pick to go along with No. 2 and No. 14, but no agreement was reached and Washington ultimately traded up from No. 26 to No. 24 instead.
Still, after agreeing to trade Deni Avdija to Portland on Wednesday, it seems safe to assume the Wizards will continue to listen to inquiries on their veteran players, including Kuzma, Fischer writes. Fischer has also heard that fourth-year Washington sharpshooter Corey Kispert is generating trade interest from rival teams (Twitter link).
Here are a few more trade and draft rumors as we prepare for day two of the 2024 draft: