NBA Trade Deadline Preview: 24 trade candidates and possible deals

Trevor Ariza, Washington Wizards 

Likeliness to get traded: 6/10

The Trevor Ariza and Kelly Oubre Jr. swap from the get-go was always a little bit of a head scratcher. Great job on the Phoenix Suns‘ part, but it seems like the Wizards traded Oubre for a 10 years older version of himself who is making $12 million more this season.

They are both great defenders and they are basically averaging identical points per game for their new teams (right at 15 ppg). The 3-point shooting is where you would think Ariza is a little better, but actually Oubre has been shooting 35 percent from 3 in Phoenix to Ariza’s 31 percent in Washington.

I am not knocking Ariza whatsoever, this was just all to question the trade that brought him to Washington. I am not sure what they were expecting out of this trade, but it seems as though they were expecting more than what they’ve received so far and that’s why Ariza may be available for a second trade this season. Ariza would be a good addition to many teams, but like Bazemore he has a pretty big contract. He could be traded as an expiring contract for cap relief next season or he could be traded as on court help for a contender.

Either way, I think he has a decent chance at being traded at the deadline. The one problem with trading him is that, because of CBA rules, he can’t be paired with another player in a trade until about a week after the deadline because of his recent trade to the Wizards, so that might complicate things a bit.

Trade Idea: Denver Nuggets Send Mason Plumlee and a second-round pick to the Wizards for Trevor Ariza