Report: Washington Wizards To Sign John Lucas

The Washington Wizards are reportedly close to signing free agent guard John Lucas, who they hope will help fill in until Bradley Beal and Glen Rice Jr. return from injury.

The Washington Wizards will be without Bradley Beal for at least five more weeks, and his replacement, Glen Rice Jr., went down with an ankle sprain shortly afterwards, so Washington is looking for outside help at shooting guard, and they’re reportedly close to a deal with John Lucas:

ESPN sources say Wizards on the verge of signing veteran guard John Lucas to bolster backcourt depth after early injury to Bradley Beal
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) October 21, 2014

More from NBA

Lucas, 31, has effectively been trade filler this summer as he was on a non-guarenteed contract, was with the

Utah Jazz

last season, and then was traded twice this summer: first to the

Cleveland Cavaliers

, who essentially acquired Lucas and other non-guaranteed deals strictly to include them as a sweetener for another potential deal, and the the Cavs found their deal shortly afterwards,

trading

three of the non-guaranteed deals to the

Boston Celtics

for Keith Bogans (who was

traded

himself a couple days later for a trade exemption). The Celtics waived Lucas shortly afterwards.

But most of those trades were about everything but Lucas himself, who had a nice season with the Chicago Bulls in 2011-2012, but really hasn’t been useful since (on the court, at least). Still, given that the Wizards could be without a shooting guard for at least a month or so, and that Lucas is likely on another minimum, if not unguaranteed deal, so Washington’s likely not investing much. And with the NBA season fast approaching, the pickings in free agency were going to be slim anyways, and teams typically don’t like making trades right before the season, though if Lucas struggles and Beal and Rice miss more time than expected, the Wizards could opt for that route.

More from FanSided

Home/NBA