Four players Washington Wizards should consider trading for before the deadline
By Cem Yolbulan
The Washington Wizards could seek to find a franchise point guard in exchange for their disgruntled star.
After having a career season that saw him become an All-Star for the first time in 2021-2022, VanVleet is struggling this year. He is having a rough shooting season with only 37.7% from the field. His and the Toronto Raptors’ underwhelming season is why he might be gettable.
VanVleet is still only 29 years old. Considering that the Wizards will have to pay Kuzma this summer if they don’t trade him now, it might make sense to move him for a player of VanVleet’s caliber. Despite being undersized, VanVleet is a rugged defender, a good shooter, and a good playmaker. As someone who can take on the more challenging defensive assignments and play off-ball, he is an ideal complementary player next to Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis.
This may be a difficult sell for the Wizards as the Raptors already have a forward heavy roster, but if they can pull it off, they would see great success behind the Wichita State alumni.
Trading Deni Avdija is an unfortunate necessity for this trade as he has shown tremendous upside and could be a major piece for any team going forward. Still, with Rui Hachimura having a recent string of success, he may be the better player to build off of going forward.
As already proven by the fact that he stormed out of the game last night, Kyle Kuzma needs to be traded soon. This is the best way to maximize the return for the All-Star hopeful.