The terms of restricted free agency in the NBA is fairly simple. If you are the team's top priority in the offseason and they will do next to anything to bring you back, then there is next to no doubt that he will return. Of course, sometimes things do not always go according to plan, but for Otto Porter Jr. and the Washington Wizards, things went exactly according to plan.

Majority owner of the Washington Wizards and Capitals, Ted Leonsis, knows a thing or two about business so he knows when things go smoothly or not.

"The process worked exactly as we said. Very infrequently in life and business does everyone do exactly what they said they would do. There were absolutely no surprises here. We said we wanted Otto to be part of our core."

In my opinion, Washington had no choice but to match Porter's max offer sheet. They could not spend money else where due to cap rules and even though he may not be a prototypical max player right now, he has four years to prove he will eventually because what many think of a max player. Also as Leonsis admits, "the market spoke. It’s fair, it’s how the system works." Washington also knew before Porter got Brooklyn's offer sheet that they would likely have to match a max contract.

“I met with David [Falk] and he said I am going to be able to get him [Porter] a max offer," Leonsis explained. "I said, we will have Otto here forever."

Some, including myself, thought that an obstacle in Porter's return would have been Washington's desire not to go over the luxury tax line, which was lowered from initial projections, but Leonsis claims he was always willing to go over, even in previous years, if it made sense to.

“I think we have proven that we have as much resources and enough tools as anyone in the league," Leonsis said. "We are in the tax and we will spend whatever we need to get better."

Even though the Wizards will be in the luxury tax this year and potentially next season as well, the business side of Leonsis poignantly points out its shortcoming in a comedic yet factual manner.

“If you look at, since I’ve owned the team, most of the teams that have been in the tax, their general manager was LeBron James," Leonsis joked. "Miami, Cleveland, but the biggest tax payer in the history of the game, Brooklyn. That really helped them, huh? So, I’ve never been fearful of the tax. If you did the research, the tax really hasn’t been that helpful and it’s very punitive. It is very punitive so unless you have the right people, just throwing money at a problem doesn’t get you results. And so, this was a case that, yeah, you have to be in the tax to keep your team together so it was a worthwhile commitment."

All in all, Leonsis clearly believes it is better to invest in the devil you know rather than the devil you don't.

"And the one thing I would say is we said, 'We’re going to keep Otto Porter. We’re going to keep Bradley Beal. We’re going to keep John Wall.' We've seen enough of them play together. We'll end up with three max players that we drafted. That would be awesome. I would much rather give players that we know that we think have an upside, long-term big deals than roll the dice. There's always lost of buyers remorse in free agency because we don't really know the player."

When the man who writes the checks, Leonsis, is on board it also helps when none of the subtle details or language of the offer sheet catch the team off guard. “None of those things were unexpected," team president Ernie Grunfeld shared when it was revealed that Porter’s agent David Falk negotiated a 15 percent trade kicker and fourth-year player option into who offer sheet with the Brooklyn Nets.

Those things coupled with Porter wanting to return to D.C., the place where he had spent his previous six years playing basketball made for the final domino to fall in his uneventful return to the Nation's Capital.

“No not at all," Porter said when asked if there was the slightest bit of doubt that he would be back in Washington between exit interviews on May 16 and eventually signing less than four weeks later. Part of that may have been the Wizards openness in wanting to retain him and the process nearly ended on July 1 when they made their pitch to Porter. “It was very close," Porter said about his ending his free agency before it even began at the beginning of moratorium.

“I was so excited to be back," Porter said without probing. "This is my hometown. This is where I grew up outside of back in Missouri. This is where I learned everything that I know now. Being back with the guys, keeping that chemistry, keeping that small core, we can only go up from here. There is no going back. Really looking forward to getting back in the gym, working hard. Going forward, trying to get a championship, bringing it to the city [be]cause we need it desperately."