Washington Wizards: Who should the Wizards trade ahead of the deadline?
If the Washington Wizards are going to be sellers ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline, who should they move? We explore
Life without John Wall is not expected to be easy. Even though there are some that actually believe that the Washington Wizards will better off in the long-run without Wall this season, it’s going to be an uphill battle for this team to get back into the playoff race in the Eastern Conference.
And if this team isn’t going to factor into the playoffs this season, it would be wise for the Wizards to try and sell off some of their more veteran pieces and possibly get as a high of a draft pick as possible, in order to add internally (through the draft) to try and salvage this core next year.
Washington is four games back of the final playoff spot, and is only 3-7 in their last 10 games. This team is struggling on both sides of the floor, and would practically need a miracle to turn it all around this season.
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If the Wizards elect to sell off some of their veteran players, who should go? Who should stay? Well, it’s not simple, really, but let’s begin by taking a look at the roster. Bradley Beal isn’t going anywhere, and no team out there would trade for John Wall right now, even if the Wizards shopped him.
Trevor Ariza can be traded again, as long as it’s a one-for-one deal (per CBA rules). If the Wizards can’t turn their season around, it would be foolish for the team not to move Ariza, who is on a one-year deal. Might as well get something for him.
Markieff Morris is another interesting piece that could help a contending team and is in the final year of his contract, so that would help make him any easy target for any team out there. He’s a no-brainer, actually.
Where it really gets interesting is possibly moving Otto Porter Jr. Porter has taken a bit of a step back this season, but is still a really young promising player. But if the Wizards are having any second thoughts about the final two years (for more than $50M) perhaps he could be a player they could move.
He’s young (and talented) enough where there probably would be a market for him, and he could bring some good value. If nothing else, would help ease this team’s cap situation over the next few years.
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The Washington Wizards have three real trade assets on their roster, if they so would choose to move them. If the season continues to go sideways over the next few weeks, it would be surprising if this team didn’t seek to move a few of these names.