The Washington Wizards are 13-8 despite lackluster shooting from their sharpshooter Davis Bertans.
Coming into the season, expectations for Bertans weren’t extremely high, but they weren’t low. The $80 million dollar man is shooting 22% from the three point line and just 23% from the field all together.
Should the Wizards explore trading Bertans?
Wizards fans think so. On social media platforms like twitter, fans are calling for the Washington Wizards to trade Bertans because of his shooting slump. I did a quick search on the NBA’s official website to see where Davis ranks amongst the NBA’s worst 3 point shooters. The list stops at 154 players. Bertans is shooting the ball so poorly that his name isn’t on the list. But the Wizards should be in no rush to trade him.
Here’s why the Wizards shouldn’t explore trading Davis Bertans.
It’ll be hard for Bertans to shoot the ball any worse than he has this season, but the Wizards still sit atop the eastern conference. It’s early in the season and for the Wizards to sit at the #4 spot in the east despite Bertans inability to make a shot is a grand sign of greater things to come. It won’t take long before Bertans gets his shots to fall and when he does, it’ll benefit the Wizards more than exploring a trade would.
The Wizards aren’t shooting the ball effectively from the three point line as a unit.
Trading Bertans would not magically fix the Wizard’s problems from deep. The team is shooting around 32% from the arch so far this season, which sits them amongst the bottom of the league. Yes, Bertans plays a role in the shooting percentage, but he isn’t the only player on the team shooting poorly. Star guard Bradley Beal hasn’t shot the ball effectively from behind the arch to start the season. Though he isn’t shooting 22% like Bertans, he isn’t shooting the ball like he has in previous years.
Yes, Bertans hasn’t shot the ball effectively, but I feel as though he’s being used as a scapegoat for a bad three point shooting team.