Wizards make roster moves after coming up short against Spurs

The Washington Wizards couldn’t handle an aggressive San Antonio squad on Friday night, falling to the Spurs 129-112. With San Antonio still competing for playoff positioning in the Western Conference, they were not going to make this game an easy win for Washington. The writing was on the wall from the onset as the Wizards trailed in the first quarter and never held a lead the entire game.

“At the start of that second quarter, I thought they were scoring at will,” Coach Scott Brooks said. “A couple of things that we couldn’t stop, the dribble drive and stop their bigs. San Antonio is good. They got a lot of high-motor, tough players who play hard. You can’t mess up.”

“They definitely played a great ball game on both ends of the floor,” Bradley Beal said. “Moving the ball really well on offense. Pretty much getting a lot of what they wanted, threes and the inside game. Kind of held us to scoreless spurts.”

Beal remains in the starting lineup and keeps giving the team the boost they need from a scoring perspective. He put up 25 points in a little over 30 minutes. Thomas Bryant is maintaining his role as an up-and-coming star for the Wizards, finishing behind Beal with 19 points. For the Spurs, LaMarcus Aldridge (24 points) and Rudy Gay (18) led the way.

The Wizards younger players also saw more minutes as Brooks continues to evaluate the guys who haven’t played much this season. This includes two-way player Devin Robinson who entered the game for the first time since the beginning of the year. He scored four points in 14 minutes.

“He has good moments, and he has moments that he’s going to have to lock in,” Brooks stated regarding Robinson’s performance. “It’s experience. He’s athletic in transition but he has to show that type of athleticism in half court set when the majority of the game is going to be that way. But it’s good minute for him. It’s a good opportunity to see what he’s done.”

Following the loss, the Wizards made roster moves, announcing that the team has waived forward Wesley Johnson. Johnson appeared in 12 games for Washington and averaged 2.8 points and 1.5 rebounds per game. He was originally acquired from the New Orleans Pelicans on February 7 in exchange for Markieff Morris and a 2023 second round pick. The Wizards roster now stands at 15.

Next up, the Wizards face the New York Knicks on Sunday at 7 p.m. before returning home for their final game on Tuesday night against the Boston Celtics.