The Washington Wizards selected Tre Johnson with the No. 6 overall pick in Wednesday night's NBA Draft.
Washington landed a player that received plenty of buzz to be selected inside the top three by the Philadelphia 76ers after a very strong showing at the NBA Combine.
Although Johnson's addition to the Wizards brings plenty of promise for the future of Washington's rebuild, the guards addition to D.C. adds yet another obstacle to the teams rebuild.
Following last week's reports that Ace Bailey declined his pre-draft visit to the Philadelphia 76ers, rumors quickly spread that the Rutgers standout could be attempting to dictate his landing spot in the draft.
Teams mentioned as a preferred landing spot for the top prospect were the Wizards, New Orleans Pelicans and the Brooklyn Nets, with Washington seeming to be the top choice.
The interest seemed to be mutual as all reports out of the Wizards side was the general manager Will Dawkins was intrigued enough about the idea of landing Bailey that the team was quietly positioning themselves in position to trade up in the draft to select him.
However, when the Sixers passed on Bailey at No. 3, the last team that seemed to be a threat to the Wizards in the race for Balley was the Charlotte Hornets, but not because they could take the wing, but because they could capitalize on the heavy interest to land Bailey and make a trade out of four.
When the Hornets selected Kon Knueppel at No. 4, the stars seemed to be aligning for the Wizards to stand firm at No. 6 and land their top target all along, especially after Bailey's camp made it clear that the Utah Jazz was not a team he would be interested in suiting up for.
Yet, in typical Danny Ainge fashion, the Jazz opted to overlook the player's desire and take Ace Bailey at No. 5 overall despite his disinterest in Salt Lake City.
As a quick pivot, the Wizards selected Tre Johnson which is a pick that most fans would be very happy about if the hope for Bailey to land in D.C. wouldn't have been raised with false optimism thanks to recent rumors.
Now, they head into next season with a raw prospect in Johnson who has plenty of potential, but maybe not as high of upside that Bailey would have offered with superstar potential in the right system.