On Sunday, Fred Katz of The Athletic reported that the Washington Wizards released center Anzejs Pasecniks. Pasecniks played two seasons for the Wizards since 2019-20, but only made one appearance this season where he was scoreless but also committed five turnovers in a 130-109 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. He only played six minutes in that game.
The Wizards are releasing Anzejs Pasecniks, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA. Roster will be down to 14 guaranteed players. Pasecniks had a partial guarantee for $350K.
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) January 17, 2021
The roster move seems to be a bit peculiar on the surface, even if Pasecniks didn’t play much this season. Thomas Bryant is missing the rest of the season due to a torn ACL.
That said, releasing Pasecniks could also mean that they may sign another post player in the coming days. The team applied for a disabled player exception, but their targets could be players who end up playing more minutes than Pasecniks would. Furthermore, considering that he wasn’t playing much anyway, it was apparent that Pasecniks didn’t figure to be a major part of Washington’s longer term future.