The Washington Wizards are preparing to make a serious run at Kevin Durant in 2016. Having the hometown card to play, the Wizards have been keeping their spending in check with the idea of having enough salary cap space to make a serious go at the former MVP. However, will that potential contract hurt upcoming deals for players currently on the Wizards' roster?
Essentially in 2016 there will be only four players with guaranteed contracts. John Wall, Kelly Oubre, Martell Webster and Marcin Gortat have contracts that extend through next season. . Every other player has a deal that could easily be gotten rid of should Durant aim to make the move to the Wizards. According to Jake Whitacre of Bulletsforever.com, the Wizards will have enough salary cap space to sign both Durant and Bradley Beal who is a free agent next summer and prepared to demand a max contract. However, just how difficult will it be to make that happen?
With salary cap estimated to reach $89 million thanks to new television deal. Whitacre points out that in order to give Durant a max deal, which he will want, The Wizards need to be $26.7 million under the cap while they are currently committed to $40.6 million in salary for the 2016-17 season. That means players like Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair could be out thanks to their contract options.
The Washington Post reports that the Wizards have every intention of signing Beal to a new deal regardless of their interest in Durant. Beal would be a $14.2 million cap hold as a restricted free agent which eats up plenty of cap space. The Post reports that Beal will not sign an extension before the 2015 deadline simply because that would really be an issue for their cap space. However, Washington can make it work to keep him along with Durant and Porter.
The Wizards will have competition for Durant. Various sources have reported everyone from Golden State to Dallas to the Knicks plan on getting in on the action, not to mention the Thunder who should not be ruled out as a possibility. Durant has remained tight lipped regarding his decision for next summer. That has helped prevent any unwanted trade talk surround his name. However, the second the 2016 market opens up, there is expected to be a rush on Durant.
