Marcin Gortat Says He Recognizes He May Not Return to Wizards Next Season

Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat acknowledged the possibility he may not be with the team next season during his exit interviews, per J. Michael of CSN Mid-Atlantic:

"I had 103 games this year, and I haven't missed even one game. I didn't miss one practice or shootaround. On top of that I'm the oldest guy on the team. I know how the business works. I'm the oldest guy on the team. They signed Ian [Mahinmi] also. He's younger than me, and he got a longer contract. I just know how the business works, so I'm prepared for everything just in case. We're going to talk. I'm going to talk to [general manager] Ernie [Grunfeld]. I'm going to talk to management and we're going to figure it out."

Gortat, 33, averaged 10.8 points and 10.4 rebounds per game for the Wizards this season. But he felt his impact went far beyond the stat sheet:

"Somebody has to be responsible for collecting rebounds and setting screens. Somebody else got to score. That's how it is on this team. I feel like this year it was me doing a lot of sacrificing. I got one of the most [under-]appreciated positions in the NBA. Nobody respects centers anymore. Nobody looks at them as a valuable piece. I've been doing a lot of things for the team to win."

Whether the Wizards agree—and choose to bring back Gortat for the 2017-18 campaign—will be an interesting storyline for the team this offseason. He has a cap hit of $12.8 million next year and $13.6 million in 2018-19, per Spotrac.com—big numbers if the Wizards don't feel Gortat is an impact player.

Thirty-year-old backup center Ian Mahinmi signed a four-year, $64 million deal with Washington last summer. The Wizards may decide they are sacrificing a lot of cap space at the position and could seek a trade for Gortat to free up salary and perhaps pursue another star to pair with John Wall and Bradley Beal.

The counter-argument is that Gortat has missed just eight regular-season games in four seasons with the Wizards, while Mahinmi missed 51 games last season and didn't play nearly as well as his counterpart. Gortat may be bracing for a potential departure from Washington, but there is a case to be made for bringing him back next year.