The Wizards are making a change at the back of their 15-man roster, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links), who reports that the club is waiving fourth-year wing Jerome Robinson and is expected to fill the newly-opened roster spot soon by re-signing big man Jordan Bell to a 10-day contract.
The 13th overall pick in the 2018 draft, Robinson spent his first season-and-a-half with the Clippers before being sent to Washington in the three-team Marcus Morris/Maurice Harkless trade at the 2020 deadline. In 38 games (21.3 MPG) for the Wizards, he averaged 7.4 PPG and 2.8 RPG with a .361/.320/.776 shooting line.
Back in December, the Wizards opted to pass on Robinson’s fourth-year option for 2021-22, which would’ve been worth $5.34MM. That was a sign that he wasn’t in Washington’s long-term plans, as was a report last month that he was among the players the team was shopping at the trade deadline.
Robinson will become an unrestricted free agent once he clears waivers, free to sign with any team, while the Wizards remain on the hook for the rest of his $3.74M salary for 2020-21.
As for Bell, the 26-year-old inked a 10-day contract with the Wizards in January, then played for the team’s temporary NBA G League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks, at the Walt Disney World bubble. He averaged 17.6 PPG, 9.1 RPG and 2.1 BPG in seven NBAGL contests (27.4 MPG).
A report last month suggested the Wizards were eyeing Bell for a possible two-way deal if Garrison Mathews was promoted to the 15-man roster, but it appears it’ll be Bell who ends up on the 15-man squad, albeit just on a 10-day deal for now.
If and when the Wizards and Bell make it official, the 10-day contract will pay him $114,990, with a cap hit of $110,998. Since it will be Bell’s second 10-day deal with the franchise this season, Washington will have to either let him walk or sign him for the rest of ’20-21 once it expires.
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