NBA rumors: Pelicans after Jarrett Allen, Kawhi extension update, best RFA still available

NBA rumors: P.J. Washington might need to take the Hornets’ qualifying offer

P.J. Washington wasn’t in the top tier of restricted free agents this offseason but he was a solid option and it’s a bit of a surprise to get to the end of July with him still looking for an offer sheet.

He’s 24, a 6-foot-7 combo forward, a solid positional defender for 3s and 4s and a 36.6 percent career 3-point shooter. Over the course of his four-year career, all with the Hornets, he’s averaged 12.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.0 blocks and 0.9 steals per game. Washington is young and versatile with a skill set that could be valuable to a number of contenders and playoff teams. There’s also plenty of reason to think he could be even more productive with better teammates and in a more stable organization.

However, he appears to have been just far enough down most team’s wishlists to have gotten squeezed out of the initial surge of signings, putting him in a tough position. According to Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer, his options are limited at this point:

"“Since he’s a restricted free agent, the Hornets hold all of the power. The only true way for Washington to get the upper hand is to follow a path similar to that of Bridges. And that is to sign the qualifying offer and try his best to ball out, creating a larger market for his services that would require Charlotte to pay up in order to keep him around beyond 2023-24 since Washington would be an unrestricted free agent.”"

No team really has the cap space at this point to offer him the kind of deal he’s likely looking for which means playing this season on the qualifying offer and hitting unrestricted free agency next season may be his best option for long-term financial security. Still, he’s a very talented player, with the ability to help a contender and he’s still theoretically available.