Offseason Report Card: Wizards get three As, three Bs, C and D for summer moves

2. Traded Kristaps Porzingis

Traded Kristaps Porzingis to the Boston Celtics in a 3-team deal bringing Tyus Jones, Danilo Gallinari, Mike Muscala, and a second-round pick to Washington

There are two ways to look at the Kristaps Porzingis trade for the Washington Wizards. On the one hand, Porzingis had a career year and then was traded for a backup point guard, a second-round pick, and matching salary. That view of the deal certainly casts the Wizards in a bad light.

That’s not the right way to view this trade, however. Kristaps Porzingis was hours away from hitting unrestricted free agency and leaving to sign elsewhere. The Wizards could have offered Porzingis something close to a max deal to stay, but that’s only perpetuating the purgatory situation. The decision was between facilitating a sign-and-trade or seeing him walk entirely, and in that light, this was absolutely a deal worth making.

Tyus Jones has been the league’s best backup point guard for the past few seasons; the Memphis Grizzlies haven’t missed a beat when All-Star guard Ja Morant has missed time. He can shoot, runs an offense with Chris-Paul-like care, and plays solid defense. The Wizards can absolutely expect to move him to another team for value during the season.

The second-round pick was the 35th pick in the draft, and the Wizards flipped that to the Chicago Bulls for Chicago’s own 2026 and 2027 seconds; shorting the Bulls is never a bad idea, and those seconds will be more valuable further into their rebuild. It was a tidy bit of business and will only look better when Tyus Jones becomes a first-round pick at the Trade Deadline.

Grade: A-