Washington Wizards: A year later, the Kentavious Caldwell-Pope trade looks even worse
By Cem Yolbulan
The Washington Wizards had a disastrous 2022 offseason that set them back for their future. The decision to give Bradley Beal a no-trade clause in his contract extension and draft Johnny Davis with the tenth pick will haunt the Wizards for a long time. Now that the Wizards are in rebuilding mode, a weakened trade market for Beal and a low-upside lottery pick in Davis look even more disastrous. Similarly, another under-the-radar move that looks much worse a year later is the decision to trade Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the Denver Nuggets.
Last offseason, Washington traded Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith to Denver in exchange for Will Barton and Monte Morris. KCP wasn’t only entering his prime at age 29, but he was also coming off a fantastic season in which he played 77 games and hit 39% of his threes. He was one of the most consistent Wizards in the 2021-22 season.
The decision to move on from him was dumbfounding at the time, and what happened since then only strengthened that sentiment. Caldwell-Pope played a crucial role in another title run, hitting a career-best 42.3% of his threes and playing solid perimeter defense as always. Considering the scarcity of solid 3&D players who can guard multiple positions, the Wizards should have received a much better trade package for Caldwell-Pope, especially since he was on a bargain contract paying him $14 million for the 2022-23 season.
Instead, the Wiz got Will Barton and Monte Morris in return. Barton was absolutely horrendous in Washington and got waived after playing in 40 games. Morris, on the other hand, was productive as he averaged 10.3 points and 5.3 assists in 62 games for the Wizards. Not only was he not as good as KCP, but he was also traded again this summer to the Detroit Pistons for a 2027 second-round pick.
This means that a year later, the Wizards are left with a single second-round pick to show for in exchange for one of the best 3&D shooting guards in the league. That is incredibly disappointing.
A more competent front office could have easily gotten a protected first-round pick for Caldwell-Pope. A failure to do so is organizational malpractice. On top of losing the negotiations with your own players, and drafting the wrong prospect, the previous Wizards regime was also awful at evaluating their own players. Let’s hope things change under the new administration and the Wizards don’t lose valuable players in their prime for nothing.
