As expected, the Wizards will move on without Randy Foye next year. Michael Lee is reporting that the team will elect to renounce his rights when July 1 rolls around.
Randy Foye will become an unrestricted free agent on Thursday after a source with knowledge of the Wizards' thinking confirmed that the team will not extend the $4.8 million qualifying offer. Had the Wizards tendered the qualifying offer, they would've had first right of refusal if Foye signed with another team. Now Foye, the seventh pick of the 2006 NBA draft, will be free to sign with the team of his choice when the free agent negotiating period begins.
Lee's source said the Wizards still "have interest" in Foye, just not for $4.8 million. However, this is a bit of a red herring. Picking up Foye's rights does not mean they will pay him $4.8 million next year - it simply gives the team the right to match any offer made to him. The real reason, I think, the Wizards went ahead and renounced Foye was to clear up a bit more cap room. Otherwise, Foye's cap hold, a mechanism put in place to prevent teams from signing other free agents before dealing with their own, would count for 300 percent of his 2009/10 salary on the Wizards' cap until he signed a new contract (see here).
This was the right move before the Kirk Hinrich trade, so it's certainly the right move now. Here's hoping Foye figures out how to stick with an NBA team.