Wizards trade landscape affected by Mikal Bridges, Dejounte Murray deals

Though free agency has taken center stage in recent days, the trade market has been popping across the league as well, and the trades of Mikal Bridges and Dejounte Murray have affected the Washington Wizards plans with Kyle Kuzma.

As Washington looks to fully embrace their youth movement, they could be looking to move Kuzma, but the recent trade hauls could affect their asking price.

According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, the Bridges and Murray trades likely mean that it would take multiple first-round picks to land Kuzma in a deal with the Wizards.

Wizards trade plans for Kyle Kuzma affected by Mikal Bridges and Dejounte Murray deals

The Brooklyn Nets traded Bridges to the New York Knicks in exchange for Bojan Bogdanovic, unprotected first-round picks in 2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031, an unrpotected pick swap in 2028, a top-four protected first-round pick (via MIL), and a second-round pick in 2025.

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Hawks sent Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans and got back Larry Nance Jr., Dyson Daniels, a 2025 first-round pick (via LAL), and a 2027 first-round pick (via MIL/NOP).

Washington has a great young core of rookies—Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington, and Kyshawn George—paired with guys like Bilal Coulibaly and Corey Kispert.

Trading Kuzma would allow them to add to their asset pool moving forward, and there should be plenty of teams around the league clamoring to add a guy like him to their roster.

In fact, Scotto noted that a lot of teams value Kuzma at his current contract. He is set to make $29.7 million next season and is under contract for three more years.

This past season, Kuzma appeared in 70 games for the Wizards, starting all of them. He averaged 22.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists while shooting 46.3% from the field and 33.6% from behind the three-point line.

Adding the 28-year-old forward would be a great way to improve a team’s offensive output, giving them another scorer to run things through.

As the Wizards continue their rebuild, bringing in more first-round picks would be ideal. It would help them add more young talent in the future. And if they feel like if they are ready to compete down the line, they could trade the picks for more talent.