{"id":158258,"date":"2025-09-08T07:00:48","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T11:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=158258"},"modified":"2025-09-07T17:33:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T21:33:00","slug":"wizards-mysterious-case-corey-kispert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/09\/08\/wizards-mysterious-case-corey-kispert\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mysterious Case of Corey Kispert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Washington Wizards have completed a near 180-degree turn after overhauling their roster this offseason. Young pieces are <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/08\/20\/wizards-3-potential-award-winners-this-season\/\" target=\"_self\">around every corner<\/a>, with potential stardom at every position. However, there is one player in Washington who doesn&#8217;t really fit in the puzzle anymore.<\/p>\n<h2>The Mysterious Case of Corey Kispert<\/h2>\n<p>Though entering just his fifth season, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kispeco01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Corey Kispert<\/a> is now the odd man out of the young and promising roster being built by the Wizards. Turning 27 years old before the season ends, the Gonzaga product isn&#8217;t on the younger side anymore. As a result, it&#8217;s looking like he could be one of the next players shipped out of the District.<\/p>\n<h3>Stagnant Growth<\/h3>\n<p>With only three Wizards players older than him and four more experienced, Kispert is one of the team&#8217;s veterans. Unfortunately for he and the team, he might not have capped out his potential, but he hasn&#8217;t shown much growth since his 2021-22 rookie campaign. That being said, Washington has several young talents to develop, so Kispert doesn&#8217;t have the luxury of betting on his potential.<\/p>\n<p>Offensively, his scoring average has stagnated and he&#8217;s not a reliable playmaker. In 2024-25, he shot a career-low 45.1 percent from the field. The 3-point percentage (.364) he posted last season was his worst since his rookie outing. Looking at his work on the boards at 6-foot-7 and 220 pounds, his rebounding average (3.0) was a career-high last season but only a +0.3 rebounds per game higher than what he posted as a rookie.<\/p>\n<h3>Odd Fit<\/h3>\n<p>Wizards general manager Will Dawkins has taken a determined approach in the rebuild. He has emphasized building through the draft. He rather quickly trades players who don&#8217;t fit or halt growth. However, he&#8217;s willing to add high-character veterans, especially if they&#8217;re on expiring contracts.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_104130\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-104130\" style=\"width: 1439px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-104130\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/10\/IMG_1820.jpeg\" alt=\"Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (10)\" width=\"1439\" height=\"959\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/10\/IMG_1820.jpeg 1439w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/10\/IMG_1820-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/10\/IMG_1820-1024x682.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/10\/IMG_1820-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/10\/IMG_1820-600x400.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/10\/IMG_1820-1200x800.jpeg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1439px) 100vw, 1439px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-104130\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oct 28, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (10) works against Washington Wizards forward Kyshawn George (18) during the second half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Thus, there are two roads emerging for Kispert. One is to quietly ride the bench. In fact, with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/08\/30\/wizards-kyshawn-george-turning-heads-fiba-americup\/\" target=\"_self\">the growing game<\/a> of 2024 first-round pick <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/georgky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyshawn George<\/a>, Kispert could be out of the picture in the forward rotation this <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/08\/14\/2025-26-wizards-schedule-5-key-dates-to-mark-down\/\" target=\"_self\">upcoming season<\/a>. Nevertheless, the long run, he could help the team in case of injuries. The other path sees D.C. trading him while getting a fair return is still viable.<\/p>\n<h3>Trade Value<\/h3>\n<p>While it&#8217;s difficult to gauge his trade value, Kispert could provide solid rotational minutes for teams around the league. It&#8217;s safe to say he&#8217;s a decent shooter with three seasons shooting above 36 percent from 3. In 2022-23, he shot a career-high 42.4 percent from beyond the arc, the 10th-highest mark in the NBA that season. With a career average of 11.1 points per game, he can provide solid offensive output.<\/p>\n<p>As Kispert signed a <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/nba\/player\/_\/id\/74122\/corey-kispert\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">four-year, $54 million contract<\/a> last October, he also won&#8217;t break the bank. Additionally, his deal includes a team option for the 2028-29 season.<\/p>\n<p>All in all, he could be used in a deal for a younger prospect or a late first-round draft pick.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word On D.C. Trading Corey Kispert<\/h3>\n<p>The concept of trading Kispert isn&#8217;t a dig. He&#8217;s been a relatively solid piece for the Wizards. However, with the rebuild showing signs of growth and entering the next phase, it&#8217;s hard to see him around much longer.<\/p>\n<p>Does he get traded?<\/p>\n<p>Who knows. Either way, Kispert&#8217;s career has surely been a mysterious case.<\/p>\n<div class=\"modal-image-setImageMetadata\">\n<p class=\"ng-binding\">\u00a9 Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Washington Wizards have completed a near 180-degree turn after overhauling their roster this offseason. Young pieces are around every corner, with potential stardom at every position. However, there is one player in Washington who doesn&#8217;t really fit in the puzzle anymore. The Mysterious Case of Corey Kispert Though entering just his fifth season, Corey [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5480,"featured_media":158266,"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":[18,1608,62,3],"tags":[2844,49322,1382],"class_list":["post-158258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wizards","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-corey-kispert","tag-kyshawn-george","tag-nba-trade"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158258","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\/5480"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158258"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158267,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158258\/revisions\/158267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}