The Washington Wizards are targeting John Wall as a player to build the franchise around. The team drafted Wall with the intention that he would one day become the face of the franchise. While the Wizards have struggled with consistency, Wall brings a lot of potential and Washington intends on paying him that way.
CSNWashington.com reports that the Wizards have officially begun negotiations with Wall on a new contract extension. The two parties have begun brief talks about what they believe Wall is worth. The extension could be somewhere around five years as a max deal likely starting just under $14 million. His extension would not kick in until the start of the 2014-15 season, but Washington is giving the young point guard their vote of confidence early. Wall will likely see a deal similar to what Stephen Curry received with the Golden State Warriors, four years and $44 million.
Wall returned from a stress knee injury and truly hit his stride after the All-Star game. When healthy, he is the best player on the court for the team. In the last 20 games of the season, he averaged 23.9 points on 48.3 percent shooting with 7.8 assists. After his return, the Wizards went 24-25.
The Wizards are looking to wrap up free agency before really diving into serious negotiations. After signing Eric Maynor, Martell Webster and Garrett Temple, they might have one more move up their sleeves. The Wizards are targeting San Antonio Spurs forward DeJuan Blair with a possible sign-and-trade deal, as reported by Yahoo! Sports.
Washington has no more cap space to work with, but are considering trading one of their bench players like Trevor Ariza or Trevor Booker. Blair has fallen out of favor with Spurs and has seen a drop in minutes over the past two seasons, but the skill set is there. He is one of the better low post players and bring toughness to the position. The question becomes whether or not the Wizards have enough pieces to really entice the Spurs to make this trade happen.
San Antonio has said they will help Blair find a new team as a free agent, but just sending someone like Booker in exchange will not be enough. The Wizards cannot just flat out sign Blair, but will try and get creative. Adding Blair with Wall on the court could be fruitful for the Wizards.