NBA News: Wizards to sign Jerian Grant for NBA season restart

The Washington Wizards have reportedly signed point guard Jerian Grant to replace Davis Bertans. The 6-foot-4 point guard will be joining the team by July 1.

With Davis Bertans pulling out of the league’s restart in Orlando, Wizards agreed terms with former Orlando Magic’s guard Jerian Grant. Grant played 60 games for Orlando, averaging 4.2 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 15.7 minutes per game. This was first reported by Wizards insider Chris Miller.

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Why did Bertans pull out of the NBA Bubble?

Earlier, Bertans announced that he was opting out of the remainder of the season. He has opted to play it safe by skipping Wizards’ remaining games and instead focus on his upcoming free agency.

Bertans had torn his right ACL twice before arriving in the NBA. Bertans averaged 15.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists, while also making 3.7 triples per game at an impressive 42 percent efficiency. Replacing him will be a difficult task for Washington.

What will Grant provide to this team?

Grant will give the Wizards some back court depth. Though he primarily plays point guard, he can also play off-the-ball and can guard multiple positions on defense, where he excels.

He also has four years of NBA experience having played for Knicks, Bulls and Magic. Grant will be a back-up for Ish Smith and Shabazz Napier at the point guard spot.He spent the 2019-20 basketball season with the Capital City Go-Go, where he averaged 16.3 points and 5.9 assists per game while also averaging 43.5 percent (1.6 made attempts) of his shots from the three point line.

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Whats up next for Wizards when NBA restarts?

The Wizards, currently 5 and a half games back of the No. 8 seed Orlando Magic, have to get within four games of that slot to qualify for the play-in games. To advance to the playoffs, they’d have to beat the No. 8 seed twice.

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