PJ Washington can still hardly believe his luck.
Washington and the Dallas Mavericks officially clinched an NBA Finals berth with a 124-103 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of their Western Conference Finals series on Thursday. It marked the first Finals appearance for Dallas since their 2011 NBA title and just the third Finals appearance in the entire history of their franchise.
For the Mavs forward Washington, the achievement also had extra meaning. He began the season on the lowly Charlotte Hornets before being dealt to Dallas at the February trade deadline.
During Dallas’ celebrations in the locker room after the game, Washington went on Instagram Live and got in a swipe at the Hornets.
“From the bottom to the top!” said a giddy Washington. “We went from the bottom to the top!”
Washington also panned the camera to show teammate Daniel Gafford, who was also similarly sent to the Mavs at this year’s trade deadline from another NBA bottom-feeder in the Washington Wizards.
Here is the video (but watch out for the bad language).
PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford went from playing with the Hornets and Wizards, to joining the Mavericks and heading to the NBA Finals.
“From the bottom, to the top!” pic.twitter.com/GWjIPAV9jb
— MFFL NATION (@NationMffl) May 31, 2024
Washington also reacted to some comments on his broadcast during the Instagram Live session. One comment came from his old college teammate at the Univerity of Kentucky, Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro. The comment from Herro said, “how you go from Charlotte to the finals, you really made it out the mud with this one.” Washington read Herro’s comment out loud and laughed hysterically about it with teammates.
PJ Washington reacts to Tyler Herro's comment on his IG live
(via pjwashington/IG) pic.twitter.com/XjfvfwJhST
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 31, 2024
To his credit, Washington has really thrived in Dallas ever since arriving there, becoming an indispensable piece to their success. Though he was miscast as a No. 2 option in Charlotte, where he spent the first four-and-a-half seasons of his career, Washington has settled in as the No. 3 or No. 4 in Dallas. He has mostly focused on defense, rebounding, and corner three-point shooting as a Mav and has also become a meme hero during their playoff run.
Making matters even more remarkable is that this is Washington’s first career playoff run. He was one of the last members of the 2019 draft class to never appear in a single playoff game but has now passed off that unsightly distinction to a sole big name.
