On Tuesday night, Zach Leonsis sat among other team representatives, hoping the Washington Wizards were lucky enough to keep their 2016 NBA Draft pick.
Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum held up cards with team logos printed on them and the Wizards saw their logo go up second. The camera panned up to Leonsis’ face and he couldn’t have looked more accepting.
Washington traded a top-9 protected first round pick to the Phoenix Suns right before the NBA Trade Deadline in exchange for Markieff Morris.
Prior to the Morris trade, all of Washington’s big men were in the latter portions of their careers. The Wizards were entering an off-season with only one big under contract – a 32-year-old Marcin Gortat.
The Wizards needed to add youth to their front court and the team explored trades for younger, more modern big men.
After exploring a trade for New Orleans Pelicans forward Ryan Anderson, the Wizards opted to acquire Morris, who unlike Anderson, still had a few years left under his current contract.
The Wizards wanted to secure a young big man and Morris was their best option, even if he did come with some baggage.
Morris, who’s set to make $8 million annually over the next three seasons, is under a very cap-friendly contract and his deal won’t restrict the Washington Wizards from pursuing a top free agent this summer.
Morris signed a deal with the Phoenix Suns with his twin brother, Marcus, and expected to stay there long-term. Obviously, things didn’t turn out well after Phoenix traded his brother to the Detroit Pistons.
The older twin felt betrayed by the organization, leading to a string of bizarre occurrences, which included him throwing a towel at former coach Jeff Hornacek and a shoving match with teammate Archie Goodwin.
I, like many others, criticized Ernie Grunfeld for moving what essentially became an unprotected first round pick for someone who could potentially ruin a stable locker room.
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A few months later, I’m not afraid to admit that I was probably wrong – for now.
Morris has been very professional in Washington and his play on the court has been spectacular too.
He quickly gelled with his teammates and bonded with John Wall.
Everyone in the locker room, including his former teammates Gortat and Jared Dudley, vouched for the 26-year-old forward.
Morris elevated his play once he got to Washington, increasing his shooting percentages and upping his production.
Washington finally has a young big man who’s only going to get better along side the best distributing guard in the world.
It’s unfortunate that Washington didn’t make the NBA Playoffs and didn’t gain a draft pick from not doing so, but the Wizards got a player who could be a part of their growing, already-established core.
Wall is in the prime of his career, Bradley Beal is just 22, Otto Porter is 22 and Kelly Oubre just turned 20. While it’s always a good thing to add cheap young talent via the draft, the Washington Wizards seem to have enough developing players on their roster.
There’s a slim chance that the player who’s going to be picked 13th overall this year is going to be as good as Morris. Washington got a young player with experience. Since they’re in win-now mode, waiting for another player to develop and hopefully become a rotation player just didn’t make much sense to the front office.
Next: Complete Wizards Offseason Mock 1.0
Quite frankly, not having a first round pick kind of sucks. The Washington Wizards probably won’t be selecting in this year’s draft at all, unless they acquire a pick. But, Zach Leonsis’ face said it all. The Wizards should be just fine with the Morris trade.