Washington Wizards Mailbag Monday: Predicting Who the Washington Wizards Will Trade

Hey, Ludovico. It’s super cool to get responses from different parts of the world.

I don’t think this trade makes too much sense for Portland, since they just acquired center Jusuf Nurkic from the Denver Nuggets. Financially speaking, the Trail Blazers appear to be trying to dump salary so they could better avoid the luxury tax. This trade will help them do that, since Ian Mahinmi makes a tad less money than Allen Crabbe.

Crabbe would be exactly what the Washington Wizards need – a scoring spark, capable of sharing minutes with the starters. He seems to fit the mold of a modern 3-and-D player, too. Scott Brooks would almost certainly get the most out of Crabbe.

Washington would probably pounce on this trade, even though Crabbe is on a long-term deal. He has more upside than the aging Mahinmi and would fill a void for the Wizards.

Mahinmi would have the chance to start in Portland. Like you mentioned, they need a defensive anchor and Festus Ezeli is hurt.

Nurkic has a lot more upside than Mahinmi and the Blazers are likely heading towards the lottery. They need to rebuild and acquiring a veteran big after trading for a developing center wouldn’t make much sense.

Head scratching trades happen all the time. It wouldn’t be the worst one ever, but it’s something that I can’t picture happening, at least without the Washington Wizards throwing in a first round pick.