Washington Wizards: Best Trade Options for the Wizards
By Andrew Wade
The Washington Wizards are in trouble. Anybody who follows the NBA has known this since mid-October.
What we didn’t know? The severity of their issues; a divisive and growing gap between players, coaches and the front office. Amid a 2 game losing streak, reports broke this week that several Washington Wizards players have become increasingly disgruntled with poor play on the court and the lack of urgency by the front office.
The growing frustrations recently led to numerous conflicts in practice involving John Wall, Bradley Beal, Jeff Green, Austin Rivers and even Head Coach Scott Brooks. In Beal’s outburst, he indirectly voiced displeasure towards members of the front office.
The Wizards have one of the highest team payrolls in the NBA. Washington fearlessly overpays players in the offseason, yet their on court performance fails to match the paychecks..
Reserves Ian Mahinmi (4.3 PPG) and Austin Rivers (6.9 PPG) are set to make a combined $28 million this season. Otto Porter, the team’s 5th leading scorer, will make $26 million this year. That’s a higher salary than Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard and Kyrie Irving.
The Wizards continue to lose and spirits remain gloomy. Despite the talent assembled together, a blatant lack of effort is displayed by the Wiz every night. If nothing changes, the season can spiral even further out of control.
The question we’re all asking…How do you go about fixing this roster?
With absurdly expensive contracts and player value decreasing every minute as this drama unfolds, will any team even want to deal with the Wizards? Let’s try some trade scenarios for the 10 players within the Wizards rotation.
Note: Not included in these scenarios are Dwight Howard and Jeff Green. Both players have a trade restriction until December 15.