Wizards sign Tristan Vukcevic and Marvin Bagley III | The Wizards Podcast | S2, E44

Wizards sign Tristan Vukcevic and Marvin Bagley III | The Wizards Podcast | S2, E44

What is up and welcome back to another episode of the Wizards podcast. I’m your host Greg Finnberg and today’s episode we’re finally going to be talking about centers. The Wizards have finally addressed the center depth. If you were on Wizards Twitter any of the last couple weeks through the draft and free agency, it was a frenzy of of fans basically saying, “How is this team going to operate? They’re going to get bullied on the glass. They can’t grab a rebound.” and understandably so because they had a pretty weak front court. They had Alex Sar, maybe Rashawn Holmes and nothing else after trading Kelly Olen, but they have finally addressed that with a pair of signings. So, I’m going to talk about those signings, talk about the future outlook of the roster with those signings. So, going to be a bit of a a shorter pod. The last one I recorded with my my friend Matt Madna was was nearly an hour, so he got a treat there. Um, but this is going to be shorter kind of just breaking down those moves, breaking down that trade from February in which the Wizards sent Bagley out then bring him back and kind of talking about Will Dawkins and how he’s been able to to, you know, manipulate some of the lesser assets into really good strong assets. So, all that and more coming up in today’s show, but we got to lead it with the first news and I’m going to go in chronological order. Uh because around, you know, noon on a little afternoon Eastern time on Thursday, I’m recording this Thursday night, so you’ll hear it on Friday, but around, you know, no noon 12:30 on on uh Thursday, Shams Shirania of ESPN reported that the Washington Wizards have reached an agreement with Fordenter Tristan Vukovich on a two-way deal. Now, Tristan was on a two-way deal last year. He appeared a lot more towards the end of the season, but spent a decent half with the Capital City Go, which if you don’t know is the Wizards G-League affiliate. Um, and a two-way contract, if you don’t know, is where, you know, guys are able to split time between the G-League affiliate, which for the Wizards is the go-go, and the Wizards, the NBA team. Now, Tristan on the two-way deal will have a maximum of 50 games that he’s, you know, eligible to be active on the Wizards roster. So, he can’t be your full-time answer at backup center, and the Wizards knew that. Uh but but nonetheless, it’s still nice to bring Tristan back. You know, had a really good showing the last, you know, couple games of the season. Specifically, a stretch over the final three games where he averaged 23 points and and six rebounds on good shooting splits from the field from three showed that that outside touch that has kind of gotten him some looks and some big minutes. Uh you know, when he’s he’s gone. So certainly like what I saw down the stretch from Tristan. Uh his best game as an NBA player came in the finale. um where Bob Carrington and that game winner at Miami and the Wizards won. Um that that may or may not be the difference of them getting Bailey or or Trey Johnson. That can be a discussion for later. Uh I will say I’m glad they won. You you want to win. Bub had a great game winner. Great game there. Um but Tristan had 28 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists. Shot four, six from three, nine of 12 from the field against Miami when he when he had, you know, played heavy minutes at the center position. So certainly uh didn’t play Miami’s best, but he played his best and and I think that could be a sign of things to come. You know, uh Tristan has a lot of potential. I believe he’s 21 still. Uh maybe a little bit closer to 22, so on the, you know, older side of some of the younger guys in the on in the Wizards young core. Um but nonetheless, still relatively young. Uh 42nd pick from Washington two years ago, entering his third NBA season. So I’m glad they brought him back. they tended a two-way qualifying offer to him, eventually bring him back on on a two-way deal. You know, he’s got good touch. He’s got um you know, to work on some things, but I really do like his ability to shoot the ball. You know, he can score from mid-range. Um he he certainly has an outside jumper. He he showcased that towards the end of the season. Um and he’s got good touch around the rim in terms of, you know, finishing um down low. Now, can he bang down low with post moves and all that? No. Um, but if he catches it in the paint, he, you know, falls away or takes a little short hook, he’s got good touch in that regard. Now, he does have some deficiencies in his game. It maybe it’s it’s the reason he’s not getting a standard deal. Um, he’s got to play way better defense. You know, he he he can get lost on on defense sometimes, not be in the right spots. He’s not your elite rim protector that some people, you know, he’s seven foot. Some sevenfooters can really protect the rim. That’s not necessarily his specialty. He’s more of an offensive sevenfooter than I guess a a defensive or a two-way sevenfooter, if you will. Um, so certainly I like a lot of the elements of his game with a shooting touch and and the offensive creation, the ability on that end. Uh, where he does need to improve his defense. I think he needs to get a little bit stronger, stronger base as well in order to defend some centers if he’s he’s asked to play there. Um, so certainly like the move. I’m glad they didn’t let him walk. I didn’t think they ever would. But bringing him back on a two-way, I I think it doesn’t necessarily speak to his abilities. I think it speaks to the roster they have. It’s just there there’s so many players on this team. We’ll talk about it in a second, but um you know, maybe they felt the two-way deal was the best way to get him to continue that development path between the go-go and the Wizards while also continuing to keep him a as one of the roster spots while maybe, you know, giving a standard deal to somebody somebody else. Um nonetheless, that brings Washington’s two-way spots. If you don’t know, NBA teams are allotted a maximum of three two-way spots. Washingtons are full. Um, you know, Jaylen Martin has one. Jir Watkins just signed a two-way. And now Tristan Vukovich comes in there. Um, it was reported, I mean, Rick Vatino, uh, Canary Richmond’s coach at St. John’s reported, or not reported, but tweeted that he was proud that he signed a two-way deal. It was also reported by Chris Haynes on draft night that Richmond signed a two-way deal. I believe that’s an exhibit 10 contract. Uh, based on what I’ve seen from some articles and clarification stuff, I would assume Richmond’s on a two-way, sorry, on a 10-day contract and that Jayla Martin is still under contract. I haven’t seen anything to say otherwise on that two-way deal. So, they’re locked down and two-ways aren’t official. Like, I I think J Watkins, Tristan Vukovich are pretty locked into those two-way spots, but Jaylen Martin again, like I liked what I saw in flashes of his ability to get to the rim on offense, the speed that he showed in the in the fast break. I liked it. I liked his defense, too. Um, but again, I don’t know if he’s locked into that spot, but I certainly think that that Watkins and Bukovich are at least two of the solidified two-way deals going into next season. Um, so that’s Vauvich. Like, I’m glad they brought him back. A two-way made sense. They tender the two-way qualifying offer a few about a week ago, so it’ll be nice to bring him back. He’ll spend a lot of time, I think, early in the season with a go- go. Um but but when that that signing was announced, it was like, okay, you know, a little bit of clarity down low in the front court, but again, he he can only be active for 50 NBA games. Like that can’t be your your option or your solution there in the front court at backup center. And Rashan Holmes, 250,000 guaranteed. You don’t know what’s going to happen there. So, you know, I was sitting back saying, okay, I I think they have to sign someone else. I even tweeted it out when Tristan got signed to the two-way. Like, yes, this does solve it somewhat somewhat of their front court. uh lack of depth in the front court, I should say. Uh but I still don’t think it does the job. Uh and clearly Will Dawkins knew that. Uh because a couple hours later around like 6:00 p.m. Eastern time, I don’t know why I’m timestamping this, but why not go with it? Um around 6:00 p.m. Eastern time, uh Sham Shani again reported that the Washington Wizards had reached an agreement with Marvin Bagley III on a one-year contract. the deals of the contract I don’t believe were reported and I feel like whenever that happens it’s typically a veteran minimum a minimum deal. So you know I guess roughly two three million so not a lot allotted to to Marvin Bagley II but he returns to to DC if you remember the Wizards acquired him uh in January of 2024. It was a pretty solid trade. They got hit and Isaiah Livers uh and I believe a pair of second round picks in exchange for um Mike Muscala and Danilo Gallalinari got him from Detroit and that was basically so that Detroit could salary dump the extra year on Bagley’s contract. The Wizards moved on pretty quickly from Livers, but Bagley stuck around. You know, he had a pretty productive um season to to end it. I think he had 20 points, 11 rebounds, and a couple blocks in his first Wizards game, which I think was against the Knicks. Um but again, like he played pretty well. And then last year he he suffered a knee injury. Um and that was kind of the end of of that that time with the Wizards. But before that he was a serviceable backup center, you know, backing up Valentunis and Sar for the first part of of the season. Um he’s appeared in 43 games for the Wizards. Uh I guess over the past twoish years. Um around 10 points, six rebounds in that time. Um again, another serviceable backup big, another body down low that can take up some minutes. Um, I also will note it is a one-year deal. So, it’s it still maintains the Wizards flexibility in terms of roster space and cap space for 2026 and beyond, which seems to be an underlying theme of what I’ve seen. You know, in the Spurs trade, they’re trading about, you know, expiring deal, but they’re only taking back two expirings in Brandham and Wesley. Um, that’s a lot of their deals. You know, with Jordan Pool, they’re trading that extra year of his contract, and they’re bringing in McCullum and Olen at the time, which are expiring deals. So, this is also uh it’s not a lot of money, but it’s still money that won’t be on the books past this season. Uh but again, it’s it’s a nice smart signing for for Will Dawkins and the Wizards. You need another body. Um I’ve seen, you know, Bagley’s well respected around the the organization and, you know, clearly, you know, carved out a role for himself in the time that he saw for Washington. Um he’s been a solid player, number two pick in 2018. Um, so certainly hasn’t had the career that some thought, especially with that draft class of like Eightton, Luca, Trey Young. Like certainly I think the Kings if they could have that pick back would take it back. Uh, but after all these injuries and moving around, Bley’s found a little bit of a role as a nice backup big in in the league. Um, you know, certainly like what he can do around the rim offensively. He’s not the greatest defender, but has enough length, I think, to hold his own on that end. Um, but again, I think it’s a serviceable backup center. When Bukovich is is spending a lot more time with GoGo, you can insert, you know, a guy like Marvin Bley to take up some backup minutes behind. Sar is a cheap option, only a one-year deal, familiar with the system, with the team, with the coach, with the players. Um, so again, I think it’s a pretty smart signing. Um, now it is uh I guess a little concerning if you’re Rashawn Holmes, like uh you only have 250,000 guaranteed on your contract. It’s a 13.2 million contract. And I will say like I do think Rashawn Holmes played better as a backup last year than Marvin Bagley did. I really like what Holmes did, but again at $13.2 million, I think the Wizards would rather have a veteran minimum in Baggley than Holmes. And look, they don’t have to guarantee Holmes a deal until January. So they could keep him on that $250,000 until that point. And then in a trade, I think they can consolidate as much of the contract or guarantee as much of the contract as possible to send out in a deal. So maybe that’s the the case where they want to, you know, dump him at the dev line. They hold on to Holmes. Um, but I I certainly think that Bagley is a better option, definitely a cheaper option than Holmes would would be, I guess, if you were to keep him. Um, and guarantee the full contract. Um, but I I certainly do like the the Bagley signing. I I find no fault with it. Um, but what it did do, and I I wrote this article for Bullets Forever, so again, you can always check out my work there. A lot of other great writers there as well. But my article, I wrote the the article about Marvin Baggley signing. And when I was writing it, I I recalled that just five months ago in February at the deadline, the Wizards sent him out in that deal to get Marcus Smart and and the first round pick. And I was like, you know what? Let me look at what that trade is now because the Wizards have made a lot of moves after the fact. Um, and so the package that they had gotten, they’ve done a lot with and pretty much a new package. So, I wanted to break it down to kind of see how good the trade was because at the time, like getting a first round pick for what they sent out was great. The fact that Memphis, you know, had a really bad middle of the season and then somehow made the playoffs as the eight seed, got the 18th pick, pretty like pretty much the best case scenario for the Wizards happened. Um, so I decided to break it down and and here’s the updated trade. Um, and I’m going to just break down the trade and then I I’ll try to make it easier to understand in a bit. Um, but basically the Wizards sent out a 2025 second round pick, Johnny Davis, and Marvin Bagley III, all traded to Memphis, and in return received a 2025 first round pick, um, Marcus Smart, Colobby Jones, and Alex Lenn. Furthermore, from that deal, um the 2025 first round pick via Memphis turned into the 18th pick, which they then traded for Will Riley, the 21st pick. Jir Watkins, the 43rd pick, the 2021 and 2032 second round pick. Marcus Smart, who they got in the deal, was a you know, paid him last year and then 21.5 million expiring deal this year, can be a solid vet mentor. There’s also interest in him in trades, so they can maybe get some more assets and expand what they’ve returned. um Kobe Jones which they turned into Dylan Jones and a 2029 second round pick via Houston and Alex Lenn. All of that for Marvin Bagley, Johnny Davis and a 2025 second round pick. I mean that’s pretty fascinating to think about. It’s it’s pretty crazy that Will Will Dawkins has somehow did that, you know, getting all of those assets and they waved Alex Glenn, but that’s beside the point. Like and then after it, you know, baller move, you just resign Bagley five months later. Like, oh, here’s Baggley. Um and and I will say like Memphis made the trade to dump the extra year on Smart’s deal and then obviously have cap space to to make some moves this offseason. That’s why they attached their first round pick. However, what what the Wizards got back that that doesn’t diminish it like they they had the cap space to take back a bad contract in Smart. They got the 18th pick, traded back and got three extra seconds. One being Jamir Watkins, Will Riley with the pick that they got at 21 via Utah for the move back. um they picked up another second round pick and Dylan Jones for Kobe Jones arguably picking up the better player in that trade and also getting a second round pick and all of that. You know, Johnny Davis is one of the biggest busts of the century, you know, not 10th pick uh in 2022, I believe, and he’s damn near out of the league. I mean, he’s in the the G- League, I think, for the Westchester Knicks, but, you know, basically sending him and a second round pick to get a top 20 pick, Marcus Smart, Alex Len, Dylan Jones, Will Riley, Jamir Watkins, and two seconds. That’s that’s pretty fascinating, especially when you add Bagley back five months later. Um, it just it’s it showcases that there’s more moves to just the the primary one and and it’s asset management at its finest. You know, you you see a team in Memphis that has a a disgruntled asset that hasn’t played well, has been hurt, and has a pretty bad contract. You know, they want to get out of it, and you say, “Hey, I’ll take that on because I can. We’re rebuilding, and we have cap space. Give me your first round pick. Give me some other players, and then I’m going to not only take that good deal, but turn those other players into future picks. Um, into Will Riley, into Jir Watkins.” Um, and that’s kind of GMing 101. Like, you could never see a Ernie Gruntfell. really a Tommy Shepard making moves like this. I mean, you had you had Tommy Shepard out there trading Rui Hachima for Kendrick Nun and a pair of second round picks because he knew he didn’t want to pay Ruie and was maybe going to pay Danny Aia. Like, what are we doing? That that was just you’re never going to see moves, short-sighted moves like that. You know, it’s clearly a new era and I don’t want to this isn’t just a Will Dawkins glaze podcast. like I’ve gotten on him obviously for some bad moves like not trading Koozma for that first round pick, holding on to Tyus Jones too long, Landry Sham and all that. Um but when there’s just not too much to to negatively talk about like it’s going to sound like Glaze because he’s he’s just doing a great job. And now this is we’re getting closer to the point where the results will tell the full story. Like yes, he’s made these great picks on paper and they’ve looked good so far, but there’s still a ways to go and and I’m fine. Like I’ve seen I I sing Will Dawkins’s praise all the time. I think he’s done a phenomenal job, especially with the keys that he was handed, the roster, and the disgruntled assets that he was handed. But I think he’s done a tremendous job up to this point, and we’ll see if the results also um reflect that. But but I certainly do think that trade was great at the time. And the fact that he’s been able to build on it and create an even better trade return, it just it speaks volumes to the new era of the Wizards, the new front office. So, beyond that, I think Bagley sign the Bagley signing is a good, you know, under the radar move. Um, obviously you bring back Vukvich and now you have a couple of of bigs down low that you can use behind Sar. We already talked about about Holmes, but but now that brings me to the the final part of the pod, which is the current roster. And I’ve talked about the current roster, the updated roster at the end of most of these pods throughout the draft and free agency. Um, the Wizards roster is certainly interesting. you know, summer league starts, I guess, today by the time you’re hearing this Friday. Um, so we’ll see how some of these, you know, end of the roster guys play, but in terms of the roster, the Wizards currently have 18 standard contracts. NBA teams by opening night, um, need to be down to 15. So, some roster cuts, waves, or trades will have to be made. Whether they consolidate a few players for another, you know, bigger expiring contract, maybe get some picks, I I have no no idea. Uh, but they are at 18 standard deals. Need to get down to 15. There’s two-way spots are full at three. Um, and you’re only allowed to, I believe, carry 21 players on your roster throughout training camp and the offseason. So, they’re at that 21 player mark. Um, so certainly I think some moves will be made. They don’t have to be made just now. Again, they have a lot of time before training camp or I should say before opening night to really, you know, round out this roster. So, I know a lot of people want these these cuts, these these trades to be made now. and they know exactly what the Wizards will have, you know, by late October. But, um, I should warn you that they don’t have to make these moves now. They probably won’t make these moves now. They’ll kind of take these guys into training camp like they should and see what what they they have, see who should stick, who maybe they could could part with. Um, the roster stands as follows. Um, guards Bob Carrington, CJ McCullum, Trey Johnson, Marcus Smart, AJ Johnson, Dylan Jones, Malachi Brham, and Blake Wesley. Wings Chris Middleton, Baloku Labali, Keshan George, Justin Champeni, Cory Kisper, Will Riley, and Cam Whitmore. Forwards/centers, Alex Sar, Rashawn Holmes, and now Marvin Bagley. And then your two-ways, Tristan Vukovich, Jir Watkins, and Jaylen Martin. Like I said, that’s 18 Sander Deals, three two-ways. Uh they’re at the 21 player threshold for for offseason and training camp rosters. Um, again, they have a lot of wings, they have a lot of guards. Um, and the the biggest question mark was how are they going to address the front court? Um, and they have, you know, I think they have enough I think they have enough bodies down low. Like I don’t know if they’re satisfied with it, but um, you know, Sar certainly will be your starting center. Whether you view him as a power forward or or a center, the Wizards don’t care. I think he’s going to play center at least to begin the season. You’ll have Marvin Bagley to come in as a serviceable big has proven that he can back up center. He did for Sar and Valentunis last year in the league. Um, so you kind of lock that down a one-year vet minimum deal. You could always bring Tristan Vukovich up if unfortunately there is an injury and you need him to eat up some games and some minutes. He can very well do that for you on a two-way and maybe that’s the Wizards are fine with that. Um, they could also keep Holmes around. But again, it it just keeps getting harder and harder to believe that’s going to be the case, especially with pretty much all of his contract non-G guaranteed. the fact that they have a lot of young guys competing for the last couple roster spots. Maybe that that they now that they have Baggley, they have Vevich on the two-way, they decide that Holmes is a little bit more expendable and they can maybe part with him a little bit easier. Um now now that obviously they have some semblance of depth down low. Um so again, you know, just to round it out, Vukovich signs resigns on a two-way. Bagley returns to DC on a one-year veteran minimum contract to back up Alex Sar. Um Rashawn Holmes definitely on the firm roster bubble now with only 250,000 guaranteed on that contract. And then also broke down that updated roster. 18 standard deals. Um they need to get down to 15 at some point. So definitely some some moves to be made in the future. Um two-way spots, all three are full with Vauvich now now signing and taking up that third. So that’s going to do it for this episode. a little bit of a shorter one, but definitely wanted to give some thoughts on on some of the deals they made to sh up the front court because I’ve been getting a lot of comments. Um, some great, some not so great about the the front court depth or lack thereof. So, I wanted to definitely do a pod addressing that. Um, by the time you’re hearing this, it’ll be Friday. So, the Wizards are are going to be back, Wizards basketball is back today. Um, they will be facing off against the Phoenix Suns at 900 PM um, Eastern time at the Thomas and Max Center in Las Vegas to kick off the 2025 summer league campaign. Uh, I mean, the Wizards should be a favorite in summer league. Um, they have seven first round picks from the last two drafts on their roster. A bunch of other guys I’m intrigued to to you hear about and watch play like Hadary Richmond who’s on an exhibit 10, Keshan Gilbert, Liam Robbins, sevenfooter, maybe he’s a two-way or or go-go candidate. Um, I’d like to see him. We we broke down the full roster in in depth with my guy Matt Madno on the last episode um a little bit towards the end. So, if you want a full breakdown of the full roster, be sure to listen to that. Um but but certainly excited to see the Wizards play. I’m excited to see Trey Johnson. Um I’m excited to see Jamir Watkins of O’Reilly for the first time as Wizards. I’m also excited to see some of the second year guys like Bub Carrington, you know, almost had a triple double in his first summer league action last year. Keshan George, I’m excited to see kind of how he’s grown and maybe his shot creation game, how that three-point shot has evolved. Um, obviously I think a lot of fans are expecting domination from SAR, especially after last year’s OA 15 summer league debut and and some of the poor performances from there. Um, but I’ll just warn like sometimes, you know, it’s not the environment. Um, for for these guys and again, summer league takes are wild. I again, you had theqaame Brown comps flying. The takes were flying hot after game. And I try to temper those and tell them, you know, you should take this back now. And then he ends up making all rookie first team as a really solid end to that rookie season. Um Cooper Flag tonight had 10 points. I think he was five of 21 from the field. Not good in his first summer league game. Now if you actually watch the game, Cooper Flag played well. He just couldn’t make a shot. Um Webby was two of 13 in his first summer league game. So like I will warn like don’t expect Sar to look like Prime Wilt or Prime Shaq out there. Um, I I expect him to play way better than he did last year and I expect him to be pretty clearly one of the better players on the court. Um, but I I would temper the expectations like don’t don’t expect him to purely dominate everyone just because he’s a secondyear player. Um, but but certainly excited to see some of those guys. Dylan Jones, that’s that’s someone I’m excited to to watch. Maybe a bubble a roster bubble guy. Um, really intrigued about that. AJ Johnson, let’s see what kind of a leap he can take in year two. So, some intriguing storylines on that. Um, I I do have something to go to. Um, I do have a a thing on on Friday. I’m going to try my best to watch the game and live tweet it. Um, certainly if I had to make a prediction on the the starters, like I guess I’d say like Trey, Bob as your back court and then like Riley Sar and George as your, you know, forwards and center, I guess. Um, but I will say like I’m going to try my best to to live tweet the game and obviously watch it as best as I can. Um, Bejian Todd, my good friend, I know I don’t know if he’ll be there, but he’ll be covering. Chase Hughes should be there for Monumentals, so be sure to look out for some of their content as well. Uh, but but that’s going to do it. You know, I’m excited. Wizards basketball is back. They signed Bagley. They signed um Vukovich. Um, and now we’re we’re kind of going in from the offseason to summer league. Let’s see some of these end of the the bench guys. See if they can stick at the end of the roster. Um, but certainly the second year guys, the rookies, that’s kind of the the main storyline, the intrigue for the Wizards and their fan base. um on Friday night. So, a lot of exciting stuff coming up. I’ll try to do some probably a recap pod after the first two Summer League games. So, maybe you you’ll get to that around Sunday or Monday will be the the next time you hear from me. Uh but again, that’s going to do it for this episode. Support’s been great on the YouTube channel. Again, if you’re watching this, please go hit hit the subscribe button. We’re closing in on 500 subs. If you’re listening on Apple, you could also, you know, be my friend. Go over to YouTube, hit the subscribe button. Um turn the notifications on. Make sure you’re watching on YouTube a as well if that’s kind of your your route. If you just want to listen, that’s fine, too. I appreciate support in all kinds, but YouTube is there for you if you want to subscribe and and watch it there. Um, that’s my spiel. That’s my plug. Um, but now I’m going to actually wrap up the the pod. Um, Bagley back, Loopsvich back, Summer League hoops back, Wizards back. Exciting time in Wizards basketball. It’s going to do it for this episode. Thanks for listening, guys. Go is

Greg breaks down Washington’s latest signings of Tristan Vukcevic and Marvin Bagley III while offering a Summer League preview. Enjoy!