{"id":178493,"date":"2026-02-21T18:48:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T23:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=178493"},"modified":"2026-02-21T18:48:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T23:48:25","slug":"wizards-finalize-roster-tristan-vukcevic-leaky-black-signing-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/02\/21\/wizards-finalize-roster-tristan-vukcevic-leaky-black-signing-deals\/","title":{"rendered":"Wizards Finalize Roster With Two Players Signing Deals"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Wizards have had multiple injuries plague their roster throughout the season. With that, the team has gone in a different direction<\/a> than normal, signing G-League players from the Capital City Go-Go. Already, players like Skal Labissiere<\/a>, Alondes Williams<\/a>, and Kadary Richmond<\/a> have received a ‘tryout’ of sorts for the Wizards.<\/p>\n

Having finished their search, Washington has signed two players to contracts. One face is familiar, while the other joined the Wizards for training camp before joining the Go-Go for the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n

Wizards Finalize Roster Signing Two Players To Deals<\/h2>\n

The more familiar face is Tristan Vukcevic<\/a>, who signed a three-year deal<\/a> with the Wizards worth $9 million, per ESPN insider Shams Charania. The second is Leaky Black<\/a>\u00a0who’ll join Jamir Watkins<\/a> and Sharife Cooper<\/a> in Washington’s two-way ranks.<\/p>\n

Tristan Vukcevic<\/h3>\n

Vukcevic was converted from a two-way contract that he signed in the 2025 offseason. The three-year contract holds a team option for the third season, giving Washington some flexibility with the third-year pro in. The move was done as a protective measure; Vukcevic’s 50-game limit as a two-way player was beginning to come into focus.<\/p>\n

The Wizards are in a tough spot in the center department after they traded<\/a> big man Marvin Bagley III<\/a> for Anthony Davis<\/a>. Davis (hand) and sophomore Alex Sarr<\/a> (hamstring) are both currently injured. Neither have a clear timeline for their return<\/a>. Vukcevic can step in and provide solid minutes while being able to contribute on both ends of the floor.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Feb 19, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Indiana Pacers center Jay Huff (32) and Washington Wizards forward Tristan Vukcevic (00) battle for the opening tip during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since being drafted in 2023, the seven-footer has primarily played in the NBA despite being on a two-way contract. However, it wasn’t a straightforward path, as he was still under contract with KK Partizan. Reaching a buyout with Partizan in March, he was then able to make his way stateside<\/a>. Most would have expected him to play almost exclusively in the G League after his arrival. Yet, he’s been on the court for 80 games (1,097 minutes) with the Wizards but nine games with the Go-Go (193 minutes).<\/p>\n

This season, Vukcevic is averaging 7.9 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 12.3 minutes per game (35 games).<\/p>\n

Leaky Black<\/h3>\n

Last October, Washington waived Black right before the season started. The Wizards kept his rights, and he’s been playing with the Go-Go since. The UNC product may have a tough time carving minutes out in Washington’s rotation but the two-way contract all but cements his spot on the Wizards roster for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n

Similarly to Vukcevic, Black hasn’t had the easiest NBA career to this point. As an undrafted free agent, Black joined the Charlotte Hornets on a two-way contract for the 2023-24 season. However, he only appeared in 26 games for the franchise; the only NBA games he’s ever played in. In comparison, he’s played 105 games in the G League since 2023.<\/p>\n

The\u00a06-foot-9 forward has had a decent season in the NBAGL this year, averaging 10.1 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.8 steals per game (21 games).<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9 Geoff Burke-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Washington Wizards have had multiple injuries plague their roster throughout the season. With that, the team has gone in a different direction than normal, signing G-League players from the Capital City Go-Go. Already, players like Skal Labissiere, Alondes Williams, and Kadary Richmond have received a ‘tryout’ of sorts for the Wizards. Having finished their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5480,"featured_media":178527,"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":[49729,4975,297,1332,4950],"class_list":["post-178493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wizards","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-leaky-black","tag-nba-contracts","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-nba-g-league","tag-tristan-vukcevic"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178493","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=178493"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178528,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178493\/revisions\/178528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}