{"id":100993,"date":"2024-10-13T21:44:13","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T01:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=100993"},"modified":"2024-10-13T21:44:13","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T01:44:13","slug":"washington-wizards-signing-a-couple-of-bigs-to-training-camp-will-they-fill-the-wizs-open-roster-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/13\/washington-wizards-signing-a-couple-of-bigs-to-training-camp-will-they-fill-the-wizs-open-roster-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Wizards Signing A Couple Of Bigs To Training Camp, Will They Fill The Wiz’s Open Roster Spot?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Wizards signed a couple of bigs earlier today to bring their training camp roster, according to The Athletic’s Josh Robbins.<\/a> Even though the Wizards have an open two-way spot, Robbins believes today’s signings of John Butler Jr.<\/a> and Taylor Funk<\/a> are more designed to fill the Wiz’s G-League Capital City Go-Go roster.<\/p>\n

The Wizards continue to make moves designed to ultimately fill out what will be their Go-Go roster, announcing they have signed center John Butler Jr. and forward Taylor Funk to Exhibit 10 contracts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Washington Wizards Signing A Couple Of Bigs To Training Camp, Will They Fill The Wiz’s Open Roster Spot?<\/h2>\n

Washington had the open roster spots as the Wizards released Kira Lewis Jr.<\/a> and Leaky Black<\/a> on Saturday. Lewis and Black were both on Exhibit 10 deals, so they will likely begin the season with the Go-Go.<\/p>\n

Lewis, a 2020 first-round selection of New Orleans, has appeared in 113 NBA games over four seasons. However, the 22-year-old point guard hasn’t been able to carve out a full-time role with any club. He saw four minutes in one preseason game with the Wizards this year.<\/p>\n

Black had signed a two-year, 2-way deal with Charlotte. But the 25-year-old wing was released in August after appearing in 26 games for the Hornets, including three starts, as he struggled mightily during the Summer League. He did not appear in a preseason game for the Wizards.<\/p>\n

Do Butler and Funk\u00a0 Have a Chance to Make Club?<\/h3>\n

Butler is an athletic 7-footer who began on a two-way contract with Washington last season but was released in December. He is an outstanding shot blocker and can space the floor with his shooting.<\/p>\n

Butler, who appeared in 19 games for Portland during the 2022-23 season, spent the entire season with the Go-Go. He struggled with the Go-Go and during the Las Vegas Summer League. So, don’t expect Butler to earn a two-way deal. The Wiz already have six players listed as power forwards or centers already under contract, as well as others capable of playing the four.<\/p>\n

Funk is a 6-9 forward known for his shooting ability and went undrafted out of Utah State in 2023. He spent all of last season in the G-League with Maine and Capital City, and while he struggled shooting the ball, the 26-year-old did make over 100 treys while shooting it at a 35% clip. While Funk played well for the Wizards during the summer, he should also be ticketed to Capital City as an affiliate player.<\/p>\n

So, Who Could Earn The Wizards’ Last 2-Way Spot?<\/h3>\n

Washington’s brass has a couple of upcoming decisions to make. The Wizards have 16 players on standard contracts with salaries totaling a little more than $168 million, although Jared Butler<\/a> is on a non-guaranteed deal. While I will look deeper at who will win the Wizards’ final standard spot later, here is a look at who can win the Wiz’s last 2-way spot.<\/p>\n

As of today, Justin Champaigne<\/a> and 2023 second-round pick Tristan Vukevic<\/a> are the players on a two-way deal. Besides Funk and Butler, Erik Stevenson<\/a> is also on an Exhibit 10 deal.<\/p>\n

Stevenson, signed on October 10, is a potential 3-D prospect. He spent most of last season in the G-League with Texas and Austin. Since Capital City traded for his G-League rights in September, he will unlikely be considered for a two-way spot.<\/p>\n

If the Wizards don’t sign any of the three players on an Exhibit 10 deal, they have a couple of options. They could re-sign Leaky Black to a two-way contract, as he has fewer than three years of NBA service, or wait to see who gets waived by other teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Washington Wizards signed a couple of bigs earlier today to bring their training camp roster, according to The Athletic’s Josh Robbins. Even though the Wizards have an open two-way spot, Robbins believes today’s signings of John Butler Jr. and Taylor Funk are more designed to fill the Wiz’s G-League Capital City Go-Go roster. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3146,"featured_media":101059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,18],"tags":[49059,3963,2610,49729],"class_list":["post-100993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-wizards","tag-2024-nba-free-agents","tag-jared-butler","tag-kira-lewis-jr","tag-leaky-black"],"modified_by":"Daniel Benjamin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}