WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bilal Coulibaly will open his fourth season with the Washington Wizards on his original contract after he and the team let Monday’s NBA deadline for rookie-scale extensions pass without a deal.
The cutoff applied to first-round picks from the 2023 draft. Coulibaly, a 6-foot-8 wing from France, came to Washington in a draft night trade for the seventh overall pick and was the first player the club drafted who was eligible for such an extension.
He will now play out the last year of his first contract and can become a restricted free agent next summer. That status lets the Wizards match any offer sheet another team gives him, or decline and let him leave.
Coulibaly, 22, has started 130 of his 178 games over three seasons. He scored 12.3 points a game on 42.1% shooting in 2024-25 and 11.7 points on 42.5% shooting last season, but he has never made more than 35% of his three-point tries in a season.
His case for a bigger deal rests heavily on defense, where he is seen as the team’s top perimeter stopper. Guard Trae Young has praised his shooting work, and he now joins a young core that includes AJ Dybantsa, Alex Sarr and Kyshawn George, with a full regular season to prove his value.
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