The Wizards’ atrocious performance in their first preseason game apparently didn’t bolster Nick Young’s case for a better deal from Washington. But it did show him that time was a-wastin’ with only a week to go before the opening of the regular season, and Young will be in the District on Monday after a source confirmed that he’s planning to accept the Wizards’ one-year, $3.7 million qualifying contract offer. Young’s return was first reported by the Washington Post.
A restricted free agent who improved from 8.6 to 17.4 points per game last season, his fourth in the NBA, Young was looking for a long-term deal in Washington more valuable than the four-year, $33 million that Marcus Thornton recently received from Sacramento, according to a source familiar with Young’s asking price. While there are indications that the Wizards had offered a long-term deal at a lower number, Young is calling their bluff and instead will roll the dice with unrestricted free agency. The decision could equally be perceived as a result of a hard line taken by a Wizards organization determined to give itself maximum financial flexibility as it rebuilds.
Friday’s disastrous 103-78 preseason loss to Philadelphia would be Exhibit A that the Wizards are far from a finished product and can desperately use a natural scorer like Young, who wanted to return to the team – and to Washington, D.C. – and knows he can ill afford to miss any more time. The quickest way to do this is to accept the QO and leave the negotiations to next summer, when a number of teams will have ample salary cap space.
Young’s path to another strong individual season that would help his own case on that market isn’t a clear one. Instead, his late arrival to the Wizards this season is basically an extension of missing the final month of last season with injury, which opened the door for then-rookie Jordan Crawford to make his own case that he deserves to be the Wizards’ shooting guard of the future. Crawford said when he arrived in Washington prior to training camp that he was excited about Young’s expected return but that he also intended to compete for the starting job next to John Wall in the backcourt.
The Wizards play their preseason finale Tuesday at Philadelphia and open the year officially at home against New Jersey on Dec. 26.
