Mavs' Bertans: Wizards players were 'basically fighting' every day

Former Washington Wizards forward Davis Bertans shed some light on the dysfunctional environment he left behind in the nation's capital.

Bertans, who was dealt to the Dallas Mavericks ahead of Thursday's trade deadline, said that much of his former team's chemistry issues stemmed from infighting over playing time.

"For me personally, you know the rotations of players, multiple players getting limited minutes, it's tough to have team chemistry when every single day, the team is basically fighting with each other about, 'I want to get more minutes' and 'I want a bigger role,'" Bertans said Saturday, according to Hoop District. That was probably the biggest part of (the) struggles for most guys during the season.

He added, "Once you start going downhill, it's really hard to turn around and start going up again."

Chemistry issues are nothing new for the Wizards, whose season has spiraled out of control. Montrezl Harrell and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were reportedly separated during a halftime altercation in the locker room in January. That incident came during a 14-26 pre-deadline slump that dropped Washington into 11th place in the Eastern Conference.

Harrell was one of five players the Wizards traded Thursday, landing in Charlotte as part of a three-player deal. Washington also dealt Aaron Holiday to Phoenix and moved Spencer Dinwiddie to Dallas alongside Bertans in exchange for Kristaps Porzingis.

President and general manager Tommy Sheppard admitted ongoing chemistry issues played a role in the team's midseason roster shuffle.

"We're in February, so it doesn't really pay to talk about November and December, but it's the same team that started out 10-3, and all we heard about was how great the chemistry was," Sheppard said Friday, according to Andrew Gillis of NBC Sports Washington.

"I think people deal with success a certain way, and sometimes success can have a success strain. Maybe we didn't do as great a job managing success early."