The trade offers that had been rumored for Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal seemed underwhelming at the time, and yet somehow, Washington’s return got even worse.
The Phoenix Suns emerged as a late sleeper in the Beal sweepstakes, and on Sunday the two teams were able to swing a deal that on first glance appears to be a horrible hand for the Wizards.
38-year-old Chris Paul is the centerpiece of the trade for Washington, and it remains to be seen if he’ll even suit up for the team or if he ends up being a buyout candidate. Then there’s role player Landry Shamet, and some second-round picks. Less than ideal if you’re a Wizards fan.
If they’d landed a player like Tyler Herro or Khris Middleton for Beal, the Wizards would have at least had a chance to be competitive next year. This, though, seems to indicate that the team is entering a full-scale fire sale and has no plans of that.
That would be somewhat reasonable if there were future assets involved in the trade, but there’s likely none of those here either. Striking gold with a player like Nikola Jokic in the second round is about as rare as winning the lottery.
Washington does have other pieces it can sell off for such assets, though, notably Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma. Kuzma is a free agent but a sign-and-trade could be executed, while Porzingis has been linked in a potential deal that could land the Wizards the No. 3 pick, likely to be PG Scoot Henderson.
The Wizards will need to think very wisely with their next moves this summer, because their offseason is not off to a very good start.
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