Re-signing Kyle Kuzma might put the Washington Wizards back on the hamster wheel

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WASHINGTON — When the Washington Wizards’ new leadership team traded Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porziņģis in recent days, it appeared the Wizards had, with enthusiasm, finally jumped off the NBA’s dreaded hamster wheel of mediocrity.

Monumental Basketball president Michael Winger and Wizards general manager Will Dawkins appeared to have no intention of picking seventh, eighth, ninth or 10th again the next few years. To rebuild the franchise, the decision-makers would assemble a roster that would allow the franchise to chase the best possible draft lottery odds. That way, Dawkins would have better chances to draft cornerstone-level players.

Or so it seemed.

What the Wizards’ brass and Kyle Kuzma did Friday, in the opening hour of the 2023 NBA free-agency period, might jeopardize the team’s chances in a race to the bottom of the league standings. Kuzma agreed to re-sign with Washington on a four-year deal, a league source confirmed to The Athletic, although it’s unclear whether the new contract, once signed, will include a team option or a player option.

The Wizards will retain a more-than-capable player, someone on the cusp of his 28th birthday, and ensure Kuzma will not walk away in unrestricted free agency for nothing in return. If Winger and Dawkins decide to do so, they can trade Kuzma down the line for a package that could include draft picks.

Kuzma netted his long-awaited, and well-earned, payday: a deal worth as much as $102 million total, according to ESPN.

But there is a potential downside, at least from Washington’s perspective: Although the Wizards almost certainly will not contend for a playoff spot in 2023-24, they just might be good enough to approach mediocrity. As the Wizards already know all too well, mediocrity is dangerous territory, especially for a club in the early stages of a rebuild.

More changes likely are in the offing. It’s difficult to envision the Wizards entering the season with point guards Tyus Jones, Monté Morris and Delon Wright all on the roster.

Still, a starting five of Jones or Morris or Wright at point guard, Jordan Poole at shooting guard, Deni Avdija and Kuzma at the forward spots and Daniel Gafford at center — with a bench that includes Corey Kispert, Bilal Coulibaly and Landry Shamet — might be good enough to win at least 25 games next season.

The lottery reform measures enacted in 2019 flattened the odds, reducing the incentives for teams to race toward the bottom. The teams with the three-worst records now enter the lottery with an identical 14.0 percent chance of winning the top overall pick, a 13.4 percent likelihood of receiving the second pick, a 12.7 percent probability of picking third and a 12.0 percent chance of selecting fourth.

But there are still advantages to not finishing with the league’s…