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There is room for Jordan McRae on the Wizards

NBA: Atlanta Hawks at Washington Wizards Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Daily Digits is a new daily feature we’re doing at Bullets Forever this year where we look at stats about the Wizards. We’ll dive into the numbers, add context, and discuss how they affect the product on the court.

Today’s stat is the number of points Jordan McRae scored in the Wizards’ loss to the Hawks on Monday night, which was...

20

The Wizards have been known to dabble with their share of one-dimensional scorers off the bench. Whether it’s Juan Dixon, Nick Young, Jordan Crawford, Glen Rice Jr., or Marcus Thornton, Washington has a way of cozying up to guys who can get buckets and ignoring their flaws until they become too big to ignore. The responsible adult in me wants to say something about the perils of committing to McRae because he’ll probably over assert himself and once better teams figure out how to slow him down, they’ll make him ineffective and put the Wizards’ bench in a worse spot than it is right now.

But you know what? The responsible adult is not here right now. The reckless juvenile inside me says POST THE JORDAN MCRAE HIGHLIGHTS HE WAS A +22 IN A NINE POINT LOSS TO THE HAWKS JUST GIVE HIM THE BALL AND GET OUT OF THE WAY

Washington will need to decide on McRae’s future soon. They can only keep him on their roster for 45 service days as a two-way player. Then, they either have to sign him to a regular NBA contract or keep him in the G-League the rest of the season.

The choice should be clear. McRae has his shortcomings, and maybe he should be a regular rotation player, but he can pop in and give the team a jolt, especially when Bradley Beal gets in foul trouble. The other guys the Wizards have brought in through the revolving door with the 14th roster spot can’t do that. If Washington is still serious about making this playoff push, the extra money they have to pay to keep McRae on the roster is peanuts relative to all the other reasons they’re in the tax this season.