John Wall

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John Wall Team USA Minicamp - 7/26/18

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Photos: John Wall at Team USA Minicamp 2018

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On Tuesday night, the Wizards acquired guard Austin Rivers from the Clippers in exchange for center Marcin Gortat.

Rivers, 25, just finished his sixth NBA season after spending time with the Hornets/Pelicans and Clippers. The son of Clippers head coach Doc Rivers was a five-star player out of Winter Park, FL and the No. 1 player in the Class of 2011. The younger Rivers would go on to play at Duke for one season before being selected No. 10 by New Orleans.

The 6’4” guard averaged career-highs in 15.1 points, 4.0 assists, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game during the 2017-18 season with the Clippers. Rivers improved his 3-point shot during his three seasons in Los Angeles, making a career-high 37.8% from beyond the arc last season. He took 5.9 3-pointers per game last season, which will bode well as the Wizards want to attempt more triples in the 2018-19 season.

"Acquiring Austin gives us another versatile, experienced player who provides scoring and playmaking,” said Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld. “He is coming off a career year and his ability to create offense for himself and others will help our second unit and allow us to play a variety of lineups throughout the season.”

A combo guard, Rivers has decent size and gives the Wizards another ball handler. He can play off the ball, knock down 3-pointers, and finish at the rim. Rivers can create his own shot and has proven himself as one of the better isolation players in the NBA. Per Synergy, among the 47 NBA players that used over 100 isolation possessions last season, Rivers ranked 5th in scoring efficiency making pull-up jumpers at a very high rate. He has shown an ability to make tough shots with opponents in his face; he made 51.5% of his shots with a defender within four feet or less last season.

Starting 59 of 61 games last season, Rivers played 33.7 minutes per game and will give the Wizards an experienced guard to play behind and with John Wall and Bradley Beal. He provides more depth for a Wizards team that is built on versatility. Expect the Wizards to play him alongside Wall and Beal, as well as the other guard when one of the team's All-Stars needs to rest. The Wizards plan to play small once again next season, which could mean seeing Markieff Morris at the center position at times.

The Wizards hope Rivers can build off of his 2017-18 campaign and give the team a boost in the backcourt next season. The NBA is such a small-ball league now that it never hurts to have as many ball-handlers, shooters, and defensive wings as possible.

With the trade of Gortat, the Wizards will likely look to add depth at center during the rest of the offseason. Free agency begins in July, and trades are always a possibility.

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Wizards boost backcourt with Rivers trade

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Photos: Best #NBAKicks of the 2017-18 Season

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Photos: John Wall's 2017-18 Season in Review

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John Wall 2018 Exit Interview

The Wizards’ 2017-18 season came to an end on Friday night, with the Raptors took the series 4-2 with a 102-92 win in Game 6.

Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 32 points, while John Wall added 23 points and eight assists. The Wizards were without Otto Porter Jr., who had surgery on Friday on his left leg, and struggled to fill his void.

After the Wizards scored 20 points in the first 4:35 of the game, the team struggled to make shots and get the offense going. The Wizards would finish with only 12 assists in the game, with Wall dishing out eight of them. Washington finished 32-of-79 (40.5%) from the field overall, 8-of-22 (36.4%) from deep, and 20-21 (95.2%) from the free throw line.

Kyle Lowry led the Raptors with 24 points and eight Toronto players scored seven or more points. DeMar DeRozan was mostly held in check, scoring 16 points on 6-of-18 shooting. Toronto dominated the paint, winning the battle down low 56-32. The Raptors only turned it over seven times, while the Wizards had 14 turnovers for 17 Raptors points.

Washington maintained a steady lead the majority of the game, entering the fourth quarter with a 78-73 lead. The switch flipped in the fourth, as the Raptors closed out the Wizards by winning the final period 29-14. Washington only shot 4-of-16 (25.0%) from the field, gave up eight offensive rebounds, and turned it over four times for nine Raptors points in the final 12 minutes.

“Some of the things that happened in the fourth quarter have been happening throughout the year," Scott Brooks said postgame. "We just had trouble scoring, making shots, we turned the ball over, we gave up offensive rebounds. They were making shots. We didn't have a good shooting game, take away that first quarter. In that fourth quarter, I thought it all started with the first play. We had a chance to score in that first play and did not execute the right way. Like I said, give them credit. They played hard, their bench is really good.

In the end, the Raptors’ depth paid dividends and Fred VanVleet’s return was pivotal to Toronto’s win. Their defense suffocated the Wizards, with the Raptors’ bench making big play after big play.

“A loss is a loss regardless of how you lose," Beal said after the loss. "That will be the biggest thing. We lost games in a variety of ways, turnovers, rebounds, 50-50 balls, defensive stops, scoring late in games."

The 2017-18 season has now concluded for the Wizards, who will go into the offseason with much of their roster in-tact for next season. Wall (27 years old), Beal (24), and Porter (24) are still a young core, and it will be interesting to see how the offseason is approached.

"We started the season not where we wanted to be," Brooks said. "Markieff [Morris] was out with his hernia surgery and missed a handful of games. John [Wall] missed half the season. But we fought and we made the playoffs. We made the eighth seed. Sometimes you just squeak in, and you got to play the best, hottest team in basketball like Toronto was. And then Otto's injury happened at the wrong time also. But give them credit. I don't know if any of that would have changed. The message was you guys have had a great year, we're not where we want to be, and we just got to stay together and keep improving over the summer.”