Getty Image / G Fiume
So far during this NBA offseason, the Washington Wizards have been making some big moves to reshape their franchise after years of struggling.
They traded away Bradley Beal for Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, and a bunch of draft capital.
They traded Kristaps Porzingis to land Tyus Jones, a 2nd rounder, Mike Muscala, and Danilo Gallinari.
Then they were involved in another Chris Paul deal. This time they traded him to the Warriors for Jordan Poole, Ryan Rollins, Patrick Baldwin Jr, and a pair of future draft picks.
All of these changes to rebuild the roster had some fans worried that Kyle Kuzma might be the next key player they would see leave this offseason.
He was heading into free agency and was expected to get interest from a few teams with a better chance of contending in the near future.
Luckily for Wizards fans, that’s one change they won’t have to worry about right now.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Kuzma’s agent told him the Wizards star has agreed to a 4-year, $102 million deal with the team.
Free agent F Kyle Kuzma has agreed on a four-year, $102M deal to return to the Washington Wizards, co-head of @CAA_Basketball Austin Brown tells ESPN. Kuzma took a shorter deal with Lakers three years ago — and now cashes in after a career-year with Wizards. pic.twitter.com/Ox7TQDcb6z
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2023
With Kyle Kuzma returning, the Wizards will have a couple of talented scorers to begin building around.
He averaged 21.2 points per game last season. Jordan Poole averaged 20.4 at just 23 years old.
The Wizards also have some promising young pieces in Corey Kispert, Deni Avidja, and Johnny Davis that they can build around and some tradable pieces on their roster that they can use to pick up some more assets this offseason.
The Washington Wizards are probably going to have a tough season even with Poole and Kuzma, but they could be a playoff team again before this contract expires if they play their cards right the next couple of years.