After another disheartening finish to their rollercoaster 2017-18 season, the Washington Wizards continue to be stuck in this repetitive cycle of early playoff exits.
A capped roster has a lot to do with their limited potential and General Manager Ernie Grunfeld has to be partly responsible for crafting a team with a blatantly clear ceiling. There’s no doubt the GM has made plenty of questionable moves since he first held the position in 2003, but this didn’t keep Washington from giving him an under the radar extension. According to Washington Post’s Candace Buckner, the Wizards gave Grunfeld a contract extension last fall with the season already underway.
Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld received a contract extension months before the team concluded its inconsistent 2017-18 season…
When reached for comment, a spokesman for majority owner Ted Leonsis and his company Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which runs the Wizards, declined to address the terms of the deal. According to a person close to the situation, however, the Wizards offered the extension in the fall.
The deal keeps Grunfeld, who was hired on June 30, 2003, as the head of the basketball operations through at least the 2018-19 season while granting him an unusual vote of confidence that few team executives have enjoyed in the modern professional sports landscape: 16 years of control.
These 16 years of control Ernie Grunfeld now has under his belt puts him in the same class as executives such as R.C. Buford, Danny Ainge, and Pat Riley, the only three who have held their positions longer than Grunfeld has.
Though those other names Grunfeld is in context with have enjoyed incredible success, he and the Wizards have faced a much more rocky tenure. Laced with bad contracts and a fair share of bust draft picks, offering Grunfeld an extension at this particular juncture may not be the wisest decision.
This is especially the case with this offseason being one of the most vital in recent memory. After perhaps prematurely inking Otto Porter to a max contract last summer, Grunfeld and the Wizards will need to do their due diligence this time around and bolster a roster desperate for any kind of improvement.
