As Thursday's NBA trade deadline approaches, all eyes seem to be on the Washington Wizards as general manager Will Dawkins continues to scan the landscape of deals.
Entering this year's deadline, the Wizards had multiple players on the market with veterans such as Kyle Kuzma, Jonas Valanciunas and Malcolm Brogdon in line to be dealt. Multiple contending teams had inquired leading up to this point, and the writing seemed to be on the wall for Washington to be busy over the coming days.
However, the Wizards didn't wait until Thursday to get the party started when they kicked things off on Wednesday agreeing to a deal sending Kyle Kuzma and Patrick Baldwin Jr. to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for veteran Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson and a second-round pick.
Following the deal, early reports suggest that the Wizards are far from done making moves as their roster shakeup in D.C. continues to unfold.
Wizards, Khris Middleton future revealed
The Wizards have made it clear that their priority for the future is the development of their young team, Adding newcomer AJ Johnson to the mix makes his fit an intriguing part to this deal, but there's no guaranteeing that Middleton will be staying put in Washington.
Shortly after the deal was reported, it was made clear that the Wizards would welcome Middleton to stay put on the Wizards roster moving forward to help provide a veteran prescence over the young team, but that would be an option after Washington continued to scan the league for a seperate deal for the versatile forward.
Middleton, who's 33, is averaging 12.6 points, 4.4 assists and 3.7 rebounds, while shooting 51.2% from field goal range and 40.7% from beyond the arc this season.
The veteran could be an immediate boost to multiple playoff contenders, but it seems that a trade out of Washington is more likely to come in the offseason.
The former NBA champion brings plenty of leadership to a young squad who could tremendously use the voice of a player who has been there and done that throughout his career. Middleton has won at the highest level and his ability to mentor the Wizards squad down the back half of the season could be the pushing factor behind Washington's intent to keep Middleton on the roster.
Despite that, if teams were to call about the forward's availablity, it wouldn't be a shock to see Middleton dealt.