3 trades that set the Washington Wizards up for the offseason

The Washington Wizards are currently primed for the play-in tournament (shot out to Play-In Tommy), but because they only sit four games behind the Miami Heat, there’s a chance they could play themselves into the sixth seed—as long as they stop blowing 20-point leads.

We’ve already seen what the market price for a player like Kyrie Irving is and we know Tommy Sheppard has a history of squeezing what he can out of a trade (though there’s still time to see what becomes of Kendrick Nunn and those second-round picks). With the trade deadline only a few days away, will the Wizards make a move to help them contend this postseason? It’s certainly possible.

That being said, the vision laid out below has little to do with competing this season. If the Wizards want to vault themselves into the top five of the Eastern Conference, they are going to have to take a few steps back. The team is light on draft capital and tradeable contracts. They are hamstrung by their own desire to resign Kyle Kuzma. Unless they can hit a homerun in the draft (history does not indicate this will happen), the front office is going to have to make a few moves before making the move.

In fact, here’s three moves that feel like steps back, depending on how you view the pieces involved, to help unlock the Wizards’ offseason firepower.