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Drew Gooden’s weird, long, surprisingly decent stint as a Washington Wizards has come to a close, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.
Vet big man Drew Gooden is bound for the open market, league sources say, with a cap crunch forcing the Wiz to relinquish his 2016-17 option
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) July 7, 2016
Washington needed to clear Gooden off their books in order to have enough cap space for the players they acquired this summer. With Mahinmi, Burke, Nicholson, Smith, and Satoransky, Washington only has $1.3 million left in cap space, according to The Vertical. That would not have left them with enough room to keep Gooden, whose $3.5 million contract would have been fully guaranteed if he was still on the roster by July 15.
Gooden struggled mightily this season, so it’s not a surprise to see the Wizards opt to part ways. Still, we’ll always have fond memories of the good times in Washington, especially during the team’s two playoff runs: