It is exactly mid-way through the season and the Washington Wizards are 12th in the Eastern Conference with a 17-24 record. They are on pace for another season that is not good enough for the playoffs and not bad enough for a high draft pick. Now more than ever, they need to pick a direction. Either trade your expiring contracts for a win-now move to go all-in on this current core, or blow the roster up and tank the rest of the season for a chance at Victor Wembanyama.
If the Wizards end up choosing the logical path of tanking and rebuilding, they need to make some moves before the February 9 trade deadline.
This may be hard to stomach for a lot of fans, but this franchise needs a superstar, and the best way to get a superstar is to draft him. And to draft him, you need to bottom out. And to bottom out, you need to trade away your good players for young players and draft assets.
Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma have player options for next year and they are likely to opt-out and require a new long-term contract. Given both are having career seasons, they will be pretty expensive to re-sign. It might make sense to sell high on them and have another team sign them to a multi-year deal. Not only would this allow the Wizards to add some future draft picks and young players, but it would also help them lose a ton of games the rest of the year and increase their odds for a high lottery pick.
Bradley Beal, on the other hand, signed an extension recently and has three plus one years left on his contract after this season. He also has a no-trade clause in his contract, so he would need to agree to any trade that he is involved in. The Wizards need to explore deals for him as well – especially if another team is willing to give up positive assets for his overpaid contract- and hope that Beal is happy with his proposed destination.
Let’s take a look at some potential trades that could help the Wizards start their rebuild this season.