Veteran wing Khris Middleton is returning to the Washington Wizards, agreeing to a three-year, $17.6 million contract as part of a six-team trade that will include several other agreed-upon transactions, a team source told The Athletic on Tuesday. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been completed.
The second season of Middleton’s three-year sign-and-trade deal with the Wizards will be partially guaranteed, while the third season will be non-guaranteed, according to a league source who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been completed. Sign-and-trade arrangements must be for three seasons, but not all three seasons need to be guaranteed.
The Wizards will acquire Middleton via sign-and-trade as part of a deal involving the Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies, Milwaukee Bucks, Detroit Pistons and LA Clippers. The large deal will fold in several previously reported moves for cap purposes, including the Bucks’ acquisition of Caris LeVert from Detroit and the Pistons’ signing of former Clippers forward John Collins.
As part of the trade, the Wizards will send guard D’Angelo Russell and two future second-round picks to the Grizzlies while receiving a future second-round pick from Dallas. The Wizards will give up a 2029 Los Angeles Lakers second-round pick and the Wizards’ own 2033 second-round pick to the Grizzlies, according to a league source who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been completed. The Wizards will receive a 2033 second-round pick from the Mavericks.
The Mavericks will also receive 25-year-old guard Marcus Sasser from the Pistons in the trade. Sasser, a 2023 first-round pick, averaged 5.2 points in 12 minutes per game last season. The emergence of Daniss Jenkins made Sasser expendable in Detroit.
By sending Russell to Memphis in this six-team trade, the Wizards are able to take Middleton and the recently acquired Deandre Ayton into a larger trade exception that expires on July 9, then create two new $6 million trade exceptions by dealing away Jaden Hardy (to the Lakers) and Russell (to Memphis). Russell is the Grizzlies’ 20th guaranteed contract, so he is a candidate to be bought out.
Middleton, who will turn 35 in August and won a championship with the Bucks in 2021, averaged 10.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 63 games for the Wizards and Mavericks last season.
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The Wizards did not bring Middleton back for, essentially, this coming season for him to take minutes away from any of their young group of wings, including the first pick in the draft, AJ Dybantsa. The Wizards have high hopes not only for Dybantsa, but for Kyshawn George, Will Riley and Bilal Coulibaly to play significant roles for them going forward.
But Middleton was a hugely popular player in the Wizards’ locker room during his short stint (48 games) with the team over two seasons, which ended when he was part of the deal that brought Anthony Davis from the Mavericks in February. The Wizards believe that Middleton and CJ McCollum (who was traded to the Atlanta Hawks for Trae Young in January) were both very good influences in their locker room, with their young guys absorbing the professionalism with which Middleton went about his work every night, even when he wasn’t playing much. They’re hoping to re-create that again in a key season for the franchise.
Originally drafted by the Pistons, Middleton earned three All-Star appearances during a 12-year run with the Bucks and starred alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo in the team’s run to the 2021 championship. Middleton averaged nearly 24 points per game in that playoff run, including a 40-point performance in Game 4 of the Bucks’ six-game finals victory over the Phoenix Suns.
Middleton struggled with injuries toward the end of his Bucks tenure, as he missed 102 games in his final 2 1/2 seasons in Milwaukee while playing on a minutes limit in several others. The Bucks traded him to the Wizards just before the 2025 trade deadline in a deal involving forward Kyle Kuzma.
