Minnesota Timberwolves acquire Davis Bertans from the Washington Wizards
The Wizards made the playoffs this season to the surprise of everyone, but they are currently facing off against the top-seeded Philadelphia 76ers. Unless Westbrook and Beal go off, they will not be making it out of the first round and be back to where they were with a participation award that ended their playoff drought.
Will the Wizards try to run it back again, even after having a 0.6 percent chance to make the playoffs at one point in the season? Or will they dump their stars, get as many picks as they can, and attempt another rebuild?
Well, they are the Wizards, and even after having years with no success they held onto Beal, so it’s fair to expect them to finish out the contracts of Westbrook and Beal and promise them a third star.
The Wizards signed Davis Bertans through the 2024-25 season, but with him off the books after this deal, they would have more than enough to add a third max contract. The Wizards would send Bertans to the Timberwolves for Ricky Rubio and his expiring contract. Then, Washington would play out next season to their best ability and maybe secure that eighth seed again. In 2022-23, they could attempt to sign a big-name free agent or trade young assets for one instead. Westbrook and Beal could accept their player options, and Washington would have a big three.
As for the Timberwolves, Bertans adds elite shooting ability at the four-spot, forcing a defender to stay within an arm’s length of him. There is stretching the floor, then there is dislocating the floor from stretching too much, and that’s what Bertans does. He has shot over 40.7 percent from three in his career on five attempts per game, with career highs of 42.9 percent on 4.4 long-range attempts per game and 42.4 percent on 8.7 attempts per game.
Bertans is the definition of lights-out from deep, and for a team like the Timberwolves who have tried to surround Towns with shooting, this is the answer. Bertans would be locked up with the Timberwolves for four more seasons at $16 million per season, but the Timberwolves don’t have to worry too much about extensions with their current roster.