With LaMelo Ball under contract until next summer and Brandon Miller arriving in Charlotte prior to the start of the season, the most pressing bit of business involving a player who could leave this free agency period revolved around fifth-year forward P.J. Washington. A consistent piece of the team’s starting unit for most of his tenure in the Queen City, Washington entered restricted free agency this summer, and was among the more productive players to hit RFA market.
Washington was a difficult player to gauge heading into free agency, as it stood to reason that both the Hornets would not let him go and he could attract interest from other teams. While most of the other top RFAs inked deals early on, Washington saw cap space dry up around the league without a clear path to a deal. The result was nearly a two-month wait, but on Saturday, Washington finally agreed to a long term deal to stay in Charlotte, per Adrian Wojnarowski.
Restricted free agent F PJ Washington has agreed on a new three-year, $48 million contract to stay with the Charlotte Hornets, @LiftSportsMngmt agent Kevin Bradbury and Washington Sports Group’s Paul Washington Sr. tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/tNoEfhPkeZ
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 26, 2023
The No. 12 overall pick out of the University of Kentucky in the 2019 NBA Draft, Washington has been one of the building blocks in Charlotte during the early portion of his career. His best season as a pro came in 2022-23, when he started all 73 games in which he appeared. Washington averaged a career-high 15.7 points per game with 4.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.1 blocks, and 0.9 steals in 32.6 minutes per game, while connecting on 44.4 percent of his attempts from the field and 34.8 percent of his shots from behind the three-point line.
Source: https://uproxx.com/dimemag/pj-washington-signs-free-agency-contract-details/