Washington Wizards: 3 players at center to consider trading for

Hassan Whiteside: Center, Sacramento Kings

After being a regular starter for most of his NBA career, Hassan Whiteside has moved to the second unit. This season with the Sacramento Kings, Whiteside has only played more than 20 minutes twice.

Through 27 games, Whiteside has seven games this season with more than seven rebounds. All active Wizards centers combined — Lopez, Wagner, and Len — have recorded only seven such games. Whiteside would be an instant improvement in one of the Wizards’ weakest areas.

The Wizards currently rank 18th in team rebounding, 19th in defensive rebounding, and 20th in offensive rebounding. Even worse, they rank 26th, 25th, and 24th, respectively, in opponent team rebounding, defensive rebounding, and offensive rebounding. And the poor rebounding is leading to instant offense for opponents. The Wizards rank 22nd in opponent second-chance points.

So what do all those bottom-half and bottom-third rankings mean for the Wizards? Simply put, they’re losing on the boards, and it’s hurting them on the scoreboard. Whiteside fixes all of that for the final 30-some games. If it works out, he may be a cheap backup option for next season. Whiteside signed a one-year, $2.3 million contract with the Kings last offseason and will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

This season, Whiteside is averaging 8.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in 14.7 minutes off the bench.