The Official Kyle Kuzma Thread

FAH1223 · Post #781 » by **FAH1223** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 5:23 pm

Halcyon · Post #782 » by **Halcyon** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 5:53 pm

I think that contract actually looks very good. If they want to keep him, it's pretty cheap, and even with the trade kicker it looks reasonable since it's still a descending salary.

smoothSeph · Post #783 » by **smoothSeph** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 5:55 pm

Wow, surprised Kuzma took that deal. The endorsement money must be coming in.

Looks a lot better for the Wiz than originally reported.

Post #784 » by **nate33** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 5:56 pm

FAH1223 wrote:

Read on Twitter

Woohoo!

They signed him to a descending contract! We finally have management who actually use long term strategy when dealing with the salary cap!

He might prove to be a very valuable trade chip 2 years from now. $20M a year for a guy who averages 22, 8 and 4 is a good deal at a time when an MLE contract is roughly $15M a year.

The trade kicker is a little disappointing, but probably not much of a factor. He will probably waive it if we are looking to trade him to a better situation. It just gives him the leverage to not so easily be traded to a rotten situation, which is fair. I'm sure Kuzma realizes that the primary rationale for a descending contract is to make him more tradeable later on.

Halcyon · Post #785 » by **Halcyon** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 6:00 pm

nate33 wrote:
FAH1223 wrote:

Read on Twitter

Woohoo!

They signed him to a descending contract! We finally have management who actually use long term strategy when dealing with the salary cap!

He might prove to be a very valuable trade chip 2 years from now. $20M a year for a guy who averages 22, 8 and 4 is a good deal at a time when an MLE contract is roughly $15M a year.

The trade kicker is a little disappointing, but probably not much of a factor. He will probably waive it if we are looking to trade him to a better situation. It just gives him the leverage to not so easily be traded to a rotten situation.

You've been asking for a descending contract for years, it finally happened!

J-Ves · Post #786 » by **J-Ves** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 6:14 pm

An overpay for 2 years then fair value in the final 2. Could be worse. I still wonder who out there was going to offer more than 4/80 or 4/90. Seemed like the FA money was drying up fast

Post #787 » by **nate33** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 6:16 pm

Two years from now, Kuzma will be paid $21.5M for the 2025-26 season. Here is how that number compares to the 2025-26 salaries of other wings signed recently:

Michael Porter Jr: $38.3M
Khris Middleton: $36.5M*
Jerami Grant: $32.0M*
Tyler Herro: $31.0M
Andrew Wiggins: $28.2M
Cam Johnson: $27.9M*
Anfernee Simons: $27.6M
RJ Barrett: $27.7M
Terry Rozier: $26.6M
De'Andre Hunter: $23.3M
Kyle Kuzma: $21.5M*
Norman Powell: $20.5M
Duncan Robinson: $19.9M
Dillon Brooks: $19.5M*
Harrison Barnes: $19.0M
Rui Hachimura: $18.2M*
Kevin Huerter: $18.0M
Max Strus: $15.9M*
Grant Williams: $14.4M*

* signed this year

Post #788 » by **nate33** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 6:19 pm

J-Ves wrote:An overpay for 2 years then fair value in the final 2. Could be worse. I still wonder who out there was going to offer more than 4/80 or 4/90. Seemed like the FA money was drying up fast

I'd say it's reasonably fair value for 2 years, then an underpay in the following 2. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the deal. It should definitely have trade value a couple of years down the road when hopefully we will have enough good young forwards on the roster to replace him.

WallToWall · Post #789 » by **WallToWall** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 6:22 pm

This is surprisingly good for the Wizards, IMO. Wizards front office gets a good grade for this. The decreasing $ will fit well for a rebuilding team, and represents good value, provided he keeps the same performance numbers, as the years go.

AFM · Post #790 » by **AFM** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 6:26 pm

Post #791 » by **nate33** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 6:30 pm

nate33 wrote:This really surprises me. It seemed totally out of character relative to all the other moves they have made so far this offseason.

Also, I'm really disappointed that it's 4/$102M rather than something like 4/$80M or 4/$90M which seemed very plausible a few hours ago.

Still, I don't think it's a tragic mis-step or anything. I stand by my argument that Kuzma is the kind of guy that teams really want to have in late playoff series. Big guys that can shoot, make plays and defend 3-4 positions are at a high premium in the playoffs. I think Kuzma can be moved at this salary.

My initial criticisms no longer apply. We did indeed negotiate a 4/$90M contract as I had hoped. And we actually made it a descending contract which will increase in trade value over time. Overall, it's a rock solid deal. It gives us a high usage guy for the early part of our rebuild (we don't have any youngsters that can responsibly take on heavy usage) and a trade chip for the later part of the rebuild. Well done!

willbcocks · Post #792 » by **willbcocks** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 7:08 pm

I'm still not happy about the deal because I dont like kuzmas style of basketball when we are trying to build a culture, but that's a lot better than previously reported. The other factor is teams haven't been getting as much back for absorbing bad salaries this year as they have in the past, so I would say the opportunity cost is lower than I initially anticipated.

Wizardspride · Post #793 » by **Wizardspride** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 7:15 pm

Wow.

That's a team-friendly deal.

Cheap enough that he has trade value or if we decide to keep him long term, that contract won't hurt us.

long suffrin' boulez fan · Post #794 » by **long suffrin' boulez fan** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 7:15 pm

What is going on here?

A reasonable and strategic use of cap space?

This can’t be the Wizards

JAR69 · Post #795 » by **JAR69** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 8:00 pm

It's "Nate finally gets his pony" day. Mazel tov!

Also, well done new FO.

FAH1223 · Post #796 » by **FAH1223** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 9:56 pm

Read on Twitter

closg00 · Post #797 » by **closg00** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 11:04 pm

Kuz sounds a bit like Brad, just happy to have a job making $$ playing basketball, the terms are a pleasant surprise.

payitforward · Post #798 » by **payitforward** » Sat Jul 8, 2023 11:15 pm

A descending salary is also good for the player. Kuz is investing most of that $$: the sooner you invest the better overall return.

Kuz is an articulate, interesting fellow. It's hard to imagine much reason for him to improve as a player, though of course anything's possible, but even so it'll be entertaining to have him around. Easy to understand the decision to re-sign him.

DCZards · Post #799 » by **DCZards** » Sun Jul 9, 2023 2:50 am

payitforward wrote:Kuz is an articulate, interesting fellow. It's hard to imagine much reason for him to improve as a player, though of course anything's possible, but even so it'll be entertaining to have him around. Easy to understand the decision to re-sign him.

We certainly operate on opposite wavelengths, PIF. Because it’s hard for me to imagine a 27 (soon to be 28) year old NOT being willing and able to improve at his craft.

FAH1223 · Post #800 » by **FAH1223** » Sun Jul 9, 2023 5:00 am

Read on Twitter

Surprised?