Wizards made the best of a bad situation with Kristaps Porzingis trade
The Wizards didn’t get any first-round picks for Kristaps Porzingis. But they did salvage value from a player they didn’t want to keep.
Last night, the Wizards agreed to trade Kristaps Porzingis to the Celtics in a three-team deal with the Grizzlies that includes Tyus Jones going to the Wizards. The Wizards are heading into full rebuild mode after trading Bradley Beal. While they don’t deserve too much credit, since this is a mess of their own making, they did get decent value for Kristaps Porzingis — an impending free agent they clearly didn’t want to keep anyway.
There were rumors earlier in the offseason that the Wizards might try to re-sign Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma but that clearly wasn’t going to be the case after they traded Beal. Getting a first-round pick would have been nice but they managed to get a decent young starter at a position of need instead.
What is the outlook for the Wizards after trading Kristaps Porzingis?
Porzingis could have opted out and just left with the Wizards getting nothing in return. Instead, they were able to land Tyus Jones and the No. 35 pick in this year’s draft.
Tyus Jones is a very solid player and he can be flipped for a first-round pick down the line. Due to the fact that they are a small market team, it is pretty good that they were able to get an actual role player rather than a player like Marcus Morris who is heavily washed. Jones is a player they can keep around long-term. They will need to extend him at a reasonable rate but this is something that couldn’t happen with an aging veteran like Marcus Morris.
The first-round pick would have been nice from the Clippers in the first iteration of this trade that fell apart. But they were able to get a pick in the second round that is pretty close to where they would have picked if they were able to complete the first trade.
Next. The best NBA Draft pick of all time at every slot. dark
Check out The Step Back for more news, analysis, opinion and unique basketball coverage. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to our daily email newsletter, The Whiteboard.