Middleton returns to the Washington Wizards in a sign-and-trade from the Dallas Mavericks.
Former Texas A&M star and NBA veteran Khris Middleton was the center of a massive six-team trade during free agency.
Middleton, who played in College Station from 2009-2012, rejoins the Washington Wizards in the process after his former Dallas Mavericks executed a sign-and-trade. His new contract is worth $17.6 million over the next three seasons.
As the league year officially opened this week, when teams could finalize cap compliance for their free agency moves, Dallas acquired Memphis big man Santi Aldama in a previously-reported trade.
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ESPN reports that Middleton's trade to Washington - where he played in the back-half of the 2024-25 season and the front-half of the next year before being traded to Dallas in the package for Anthony Davis - is one component of a deal "that includes, in total, the Mavericks, Wizards, Clippers, Pistons, Bucks and Grizzlies.
"It involves previously agreed-upon deals such as John Collins, Gary Harris and Taurean Prince (Detroit), Isaiah Stewart (Memphis), Santi Aldama (Mavericks), Caris LeVert (Bucks), etc."
Dallas also acquires Pistons guard Marcus Sasser and the draft rights to European sharpshooter Tarik Biberovic from Memphis.
Middleton's sign-and-trade creates a $5.6 million trade exception, which absorbs Sasser's incoming salary. Crucially, Dallas retains its full taxpayer midlevel exception of greater than $20 million to use elsewhere in free agency.
Middleton, who turns 35 on Aug. 12, first joined the Wizards midway through the 2024-25 season, appearing in 14 games (all starts) that year and averaging 10.7 points per game. He posted averages of 10 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 29 games (16 starts) with the Mavericks at the end of last season.
At the start of the 2025-26 year, the former NBA champion in 2021 with the Milwaukee Bucks was averaging 10.3 points per game as a regular starter before he was sent to Dallas in a Mavs move that unloaded Davis' salary to better prepare the team for a future built around teenage phenom Cooper Flagg.
It appeared that Middleton preferred to rejoin the Wizards over any other free agency path this summer, thus allowing the Mavs to make things work for him in a sign-and-trade. Middleton, though he performed well at the end of an otherwise forgetful season for the Mavs, likely knew his role would continue to diminish in Dallas as the team prioritizes a younger rotation and long-term outlook to be competitive.
With the Aggies, Middleton averaged 11.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game, starting in 72 of the 87 games he played in maroon and white. He was an All-Big 12 selection in the 2010-11 season.
The 2026-27 season will be Middleton's 15th in the NBA. The Charleston, South Carolina native is a three-time All-Star and will begin his second stint with Washington, the fourth team he's played for in his career.
