Washington Wizards NBA Trade Deadline 2017 Reaction: How Bojan Bogdanovic Will Help the Wizards

Ben Mehic

Washington Wizards finally pulled the trigger and acquired Bojan Bogdanovic from the Brooklyn Nets in a trade before the deadline.

The NBA Trade Deadline has come and gone. Bojan Bogdanovic is now a member of the Washington Wizards.

The 6-foot-8 Yugoslavian was linked to the Wizards two seasons ago, but Ernie Grunfeld was reluctant to trade a draft pick (which became Kelly Oubre).

Two years later, an opportunity to acquire Bogdanovic arose again.

This time, the Wizards agreed to part ways with a first-round draft pick for the scoring forward.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Wizards shipped the pick along with Andrew Nicholson and Marcus Thornton to the Brooklyn Nets for Bogdanovic and Chris McCullough – a former first-round pick himself.

Bogdanovic, who’s averaging over 14 points this season, has become one of the league’s underrated scorers. Since he’ll be a free agent in the summer, Bogdanovic’s future in New York was somewhat uncertain. Instead of re-signing the 27-year-old, the Nets decided to add another future asset to their roster in the form of a draft pick.

Nicholson, who has four years (including this current season) left on his $26 million deal, wasn’t playing for the Wizards. Thornton was also out of Scott Brooks‘ rotation.

For the trade to work, the Wizards likely demanded that Brooklyn take his regrettable contract.

Bogdanovic, in theory, should help the Wizards’ bench, which is 29th in scoring. His shooting will also make him a solid fit alongside John Wall and Bradley Beal in spurts.

A trade, at the end, seemed inevitable.

Our crew reacted to it.

By: Jen Julie Smith (@jensrules)

The Washington Wizards just need one more solid piece to be true contenders. Their starting lineup matches up pretty evenly against to almost any team in the league. But it’s the “almost” part that is preventing them from going deep into the playoffs.

When the team lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in heartbreaking fashion before the All-Star break, the Wizards played John Wall and Bradley Beal a considerable amount. The backcourt wasn’t able to get meaningful rest and return to the game with fresh legs.

The bench not only didn’t afford the starters any rest, but when the second unit was in the game they lost any momentum or lead that the Wizards’ starters had built. Basically, the bench was causing the Wizards to start all over score -wise in the middle of a game.

Wall (double knee surgery), Otto Porter (sore hip) and Beal (everything) are playing way too many minutes. In turn, they never started any game fresh, because they are never able to depend on their bench.

Now with the addition of Bogdanovic, the Washington Wizards have finally found their sixth man. Bogdanovic is not only someone who can provide the starters some rest, but also put up buckets, helping the Wizards close out wins without overworking the starters.

After turning their season around, Washington is just one piece away from being able to go the distance against the Cavaliers in a 7-game series. With Bogdanovic, they have the manpower to not only go the distance, but a chance to emerge victorious.

The Wizards’ bench was their missing link, and Bogdanovic is definitely a start to turn Washington into a true Eastern Conference contender.

Yet, the Wizards’ job isn’t done. Washington still needs to add a solid backup to Wall at the point guard position.

Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

By: Ryan Eugene (@butterscotcht)

I can get down with this trade. I’m disappointed the team parted with the 2017 first-round pick, but I’m happy that at least Andrew Nicholson left with it. Ernie Grunfeld has made a living off burning picks to cover for previous mistakes, and this one is no different.

The only two players I would have been willing to part with a first for were Lou Williams and Will Barton.

Both are under contract for another year, meaning the Washington Wizards can take advantage of their reasonable salary cap numbers. The problem with those players is that those teams aren’t willing to take back the contract of Nicholson.

The Lakers already have mammoth deals with Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng, and are not looking to add more cap space along with giving up a player like Lou Will.

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Meanwhile, Denver is looking to move the contracts of Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari.

Bogdanovic is a player I’ve wanted the Wizards to go after all season, and think he will be a key piece moving forward.

The Wizards bench has been bad at offense and defense this season.

With the way the starters have played, I think it is more important to add offense to the bench than a defensive piece that can’t cover up all the holes.

On the season, Bogdanovic is the 15th leading scorer among shooting guards at 14.2 points in 27 MPG.

Two other quick notes on his prolific scoring.

Firstly, his career high is 44 points, two more than Bradley Beal’s. Secondly, in the Olympics this summer, he averaged 25.3 points, leading all scorers.

While his 3-point percentage is just under 36%, he should benefit from playing on an offense where he doesn’t have to rely on creating his own shot as often. With Jeremy Lin on the sidelines for much of the season, Bogdanovic has taken over much of the creator role on offense.

Now, when playing alongside Wall, he can focus on moving without the ball, for open cross court threes. On the bench unit, he can continue to play his more dominant role as he immediately passes Trey Burke and Tomas Satoransky in offensive prowess.

His upcoming restricted free agency will be interesting, as this deal was partly to help Washington afford to keep Otto Porter.

As a restricted free agent, the Wizards will have a chance to match any offer, but I do worry that we’ll be looking at somewhere in the range of three years and $36 million, probably out of the Wizards’ budget. Last summer, Mirza Teletovic got a three-year, $30 million deal with Milwaukee, after putting up similar numbers to those of Bogdanovic this season.

Chris McCullough is an interesting addition as a second year project power forward.

His salary wasn’t necessary to make the trade work, so the Wizards must see something they like in him. The team could have opted to keep an open roster space to sign someone who gets waived over the next week or two.

McCullough was a great prospect coming out of high school, but only played 16 games before tearing his ACL. He’s already more intriguing than many of Washington’s young bigs, and hopefully he can develop under the tutelage of Scott Brooks.

By: Oz Baig (@obtoojiveforyou)

The Washington Wizards acquisition of Bojan Bogdanovic was the epitome of an Ernie Grunfeld move and was somewhat bittersweet. The Wizards are a better team than they were before the day started, but once again, Grunfeld made a trade that got him out of a mess he created.

On paper, the Washington Wizards, standing at 34-21 overall and within reach of their first 50-win season in more than 30 years, added a player that can immediately bolster their bench.

Bogey is a skilled wing player capable of scoring 12-15 points nightly and adds yet another shooter to a roster which already has the NBA’s leading 3-point shooter percentage wise in Otto Porter and Bradley Beal.

In a league that now emphasizes the 3-point shot, Washington is well armed.

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The second unit, in particular – a unit which routinely has failed to hold leads and has forced the starters to log heavy minutes – now has a scorer capable of anchoring it.

On the flip side, Washington is still is missing a backcourt piece – a need which has been magnified this season by the inconsistent play of Trey Burke, Tomas Satoransky and Marcus Thornton.

Burke has improved to an extent as he’s begun to look to score rather than facilitate.

But, this leads you to wonder: how he does fit with Bogdanovic? Will Burke continue to look for his own offense?

If that’s the case and Bogey is underutilized due to point guard play around him, Washington has paid a premium for a player who may not be in position to excel, and that player may be a rental.

Burke has to get Bogey the ball when and where he needs it, and to do that he has to once again try to be a playmaker – a role he struggled with earlier this season.

Grunfeld’s job isn’t over. Another point guard is needed.

Circling back to the trade; while on surface a 34-31 team improved, a first-round pick was needed to acquire a player who may be a rental to dump a player signed to a long-term contract by Grunfeld this past summer.

Had Grunfeld used his cap space more wisely and efficiently this past summer, the bench would have already been more productive or at minimum, Nicholson wouldn’t be on the hook for three more years at $19 million. The Washington Wizards’ first-round pick was somewhat devalued by the contract attached to it.

That being said, the Wizards are where they are now, – in good position to potentially advance to their first conference finals since the 1978-1979 season.

By: Nithin Kuchibhotla (@nkuchibhotla)

I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about this trade, so the one adjective I’ll use is “tepid.”

To get the obvious out of the way, this makes the Washington Wizards much better in 2017. Bogdanovic can shoot the lights out at times (career 37% from three) and is an aggressive scorer, averaging 19 points per-36 minutes.

He’ll clearly be an essential part of Washington’s putrid second unit that is in the bottom three in the NBA in bench scoring. Though Bogdanovic is not a willing or capable defender, the hope is he provides the offensive punch while Satoransky, Kelly Oubre, and Ian Mahinmi anchor the team defensively when the starters are resting.

I’m a fan of adding the player (especially given neither Nicholson nor Thornton were going to see the floor again), but I’m not a fan of the price.

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Washington hasn’t been in this situation since the heyday of Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison Jamison and Caron Butler (and not even nearly to that extent back then), but it will soon be a team with three max contracts on its books.

With a top-heavy roster like that, the only way to truly get depth is to acquire cheap, cost-controlled talent, namely through the draft.

This is now the third season in the last four that Grunfeld has given up the pick, and while the first two moves panned out, eventually he could be playing with fire.

Secondly, the pick was only necessary because no one would touch Nicholson’s contract otherwise, which if memory serves me correctly, was just handed out about 8 months ago.

We all know the cyclical nature of Grunfeld’s tenure – completely botch a decision, then make up for it soon after. Rinse and repeat, and still employed 14 years later.

I’m excited about the spark Bogdanovic can bring, especially given his stats should be somewhat inflated now playing on a good team vs. the trainwreck known as the Brooklyn Nets.

Next: Why the Wizards Have One of the Best Young Cores

And this is definitely a win now move (with another possibly coming) to position the Wizards nicely in the Eastern Conference race. But let’s hope Ted Leonsis doesn’t balk at the luxury tax, knowing it was a product of making these types of deals.

Ben Mehic

I write about millionaires who put a ball through a hole. Believer in positive pixels. Nonbeliever in naps and flip flops. My last name is pronounced Meh-itch - like it's only kind of good, and you have to scratch it.