Deal of the Day: Let’s examine how the Wizards can get Jerami Grant in a deal for Davis Bertans

The Deal knows there is one target that remains #1 in the hearts of many Bullets fans, Wizards fans and DMV locals alike, Jerami Grant. Since the Nuggets are interested in Davis Bertans could we just swap them? No. We can’t do a straight swap. Their outgoing salary is calculated at the greater of their 2019-20 salary or 50% of their new salary. Their incoming salary is at the actual contract value. 1:1 can’t work with salaries in this salary range. Both teams will need to shed more salary than they bring in.

The Washington Wizards sign and trade Davis Bertans to the Denver Nuggets for 4 years, $75.3mm. The Wizards trade center Moritz Wagner ($2.1) and guard Jerome Robinson ($3.7) to the Detroit Pistons.

Washington’s incoming is $18 million, outgoing calculated $14.55 million x 1.25 plus $100k = ability to take up to $18.287 million back in a trade. Tight fit.

The Denver Nuggets sign and trade Jerami Grant to the Wizards for 4 years, $72mm. They trade PJ Dozier, Vlatko Cancar and Keita Bates-Diop to the Pistons. [If the NBA doesn’t allow Denver to aggregate these salaries then it falls apart.]

Denver’s incoming is $17.5 million, outgoing is $14.1 million x 1.25 + $100K = ability to take $17.75 million back in a trade. Also a tight squeeze.

The Pistons would receive cash and a draft pick in this deal. They may have to send out a heavily protected 2nd to make it work.

Why do the Nuggets do the deal?

Nuggets GM Tim Connelly wants to expand the Nuggets floor spacing and is willing to pay to do it. The next evolution of the game includes spacing well beyond the current 3pt line. That’s what Bertans does that Grant can’t.

Why do the Pistons do the deal?

Detroit is open to using their cap space to facilitate deals in exchange for assets. In this deal they get a former lottery pick on a team friendly deal in Robinson, another former 1st rounder who played at Michigan and an interesting player from Denver in PJ Dozier. For nothing. No salary they can’t clear if they need to so it’s harmless cap wise. Cash definitely helps. Future picks preferred. Wizards would include a future 2nd to close the deal.

Why do the Wizards do the deal?

Once Bertans tells the Front Office that he won’t be re-signing everything is on the table. We can only hope that they’ve got some big swings in them.

Jerami Grant was always going to get paid. After defending anyone and everyone in the playoffs his potential contract grew immensely. The Wizards go get a 26 year old forward who can guard multiple positions and shot 39 percent from deep last year and the year prior to that. No fluke season skewing things. He’s worked hard on his shot and it shows. It shows beyond percentage too. He makes a lot of clean 3’s even under pressure and a step behind the line.

Defensively, we watched what he can do as a primary on-ball guy. We’re searching for that under every rock. Before Denver, he made his share of blocks in Philadelphia and OKC. That was due to playing more of a weak side help position. Is it too much to ask that we get both?

There are warts too. The Athletic’s John Hollinger went further while valuing Grant’s free agent contract at $7.5mm:

He’s probably the most overrated player in this year’s free-agent market. The Nuggets made it to the conference finals with him as one of their key players, but they were massively better when Grant was off the floor, both in the regular season and again in the playoffs.

No Denver player’s absence had a more positive impact: Denver outscored opponents by 7.3 points per 100 possessions in the regular season with Grant off the court in the regular season, and by 6.2 in the playoffs. Both numbers led the team by a wide margin. Meanwhile, the Nuggets were outscored with Grant on the floor in both the regular season and the playoffs.

Oof, ok, that takes some wind out of your sails after guaranteeing the player $72 million.

Cap wise we’re at $127.5 million when I include the MLE and estimated salary for the #9 pick. Still room to use most of the BAE if not all and still keep that buffer zone under the luxury tax threshold of $132 million that Ernie Tommy likes going into the trade deadline.

Wizards would have the No. 9 (Okongwu/Okoro/Vassell) and the No. 37 (Jordan Nwora/Zeke Nnaji) picks in the 2020 NBA Draft, plus the MLE and the BAE:

• John Wall - Ish Smith - Shabazz Napier (UFA)
• Bradley Beal - Troy Brown - Garrison Mathews (RFA)
• __________ - Isaac Bonga - Admiral Schofield
• Jerami Grant - Rui Hachimura
• Thomas Bryant - __________ - Anzejs Pasecniks (camp guarantee)

Trade Resources

• TradeNBA
• ESPN Trade Machine
• CBA FAQ
• Stathead.com
• NBA.com Stats

Want to request a trade target or send a challenge? Email me at Jheiser3 at gmail.com and include your Bullets Forever screen name.