Should the Washington Wizards trade Marcin Gortat?

Why trade Gortat?

The Washington Wizards, as highlighted in the postseason, have roster deficiencies.  The Wizards won 49 games in the regular season, their most since the ‘78-‘79 season, but still have areas of need on their roster with limited resources available to make those additions.

• The Wizards need more front court flexibility and neither Marcin Gortat nor Ian Mahinmi particularly provides that. Both centers are somewhat redundant in that they can’t share the court together and don’t present a small ball look that can open the floor sufficiently with their need to be close to the basket to be effective offensively. Washington needs more flexibility to match up with teams that have stretch 5s and can spread the floor.  Markieff Morris as of now is the only player on the roster capable of playing that role but struggles in his own right with foul trouble limiting his ability to stay on the floor.

• The Wizards need to finally solidify their backcourt behind John Wall and Bradley Beal. The Wizards have had a revolving door for 3^rd guard duties that have seen the likes of Andre Miller, Ramon Sessions, Eric Maynor, Trey Burke, and most recently Brandon Jennings.  Some have had more success with others, but none offered the constant that this is looking for.

• Lastly regardless of position and perhaps most importantly, the Wizards need a bench threat that will provide a consistent scoring punch off the bench.  The front office likely thought that need was addressed with the trade for Bojan Bogdanovic but Bojan’s deficiencies on the defensive end it difficult to find playing time for him at times, in particular versus the Boston Celtics.  The Wizards need a two-way player who offers versatility defensively and scoring offensively while not being overwhelmed by the speed and physicality of the postseason.

Without a first round pick in 2017 and being potentially up against a luxury tax line, that makes spending difficult depending on Otto Porter’s contract extension and if the Wizards can agree to an extension with John Wall.

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Marcin Gortat’s contract and value may be Washington best resource to add to the roster.  The cap relief Washington can gain by shedding all or a portion of Marcin’s Gortat’s $12.8M salary for the upcoming season could be a huge benefit to this team financially moving forward.

That salary is a bargain in an economic landscape which saw eye-opening amounts of money thrown out to free agents last summer.

Would a team prefer Marcin Gortat, coming off a season where he averaged a double-double and in essence signed to a 2-year/$26M deal? Other options may require going into the free agent landscape which saw Timofey Mozgov, Miles Plumlee, and the aforementioned Ian Mahinmi all sign four-year deals starting at a low-end of $50M.