The Washington Wizards aren’t just going to make the playoffs this season, they have a chance of doing pretty well in it. However, they’re looking to upgrade their bench and backup point guard position, and would love to get Andre Miller from the Denver Nuggets. However, money might get in the way.

The Wizards aren’t known to be one of the more easy-spending franchises in the NBA, so for them to get Andre Miller, who has a cap hit number of $5 million this season and $4.6 million next year they’d like to shed some deals. They’ve got plenty of expiring contracts (although not quite sure the kinds the Nuggets want), which puts them around $15 million below the cap next season, unless they add Miller.

For the Nuggets, this might actually work because almost everyone on their team is signed for more than just this season, and getting Miller off the payroll would be some nice relief, especially since he hasn’t played in almost two months, and not likely to play again while Brian Shaw is the head coach. He’s averaging 5.9 points and 3.3 assists in 19 minutes a night, but still hasn’t played once in 2014.

But why won’t this happen? Not just the luxury tax the Wizards are afraid of hitting, but also the fact that there’s money leaking through the amnesty clause they used on Andray Blatche. An expiring contract isn’t what is used to mean since the new CBA, which makes the offers the Wizards have to make a lot less enticing to the Nuggets.

Washington made a smart bet (it seemed at the time) on Eric Maynor, but he hasn’t lived up to expectations, shooting only 29.1% from the field, playing only 9.3 minutes a night. The Wizards, like a few other teams in the East, see themselves as the third or fourth best team in the conference, and getting Miller or someone to provide decent backup to Wall won’t just get them in the playoffs, but might be exactly what they need to make it into the conference semifinals.

Image: Source