The Wizards have agreed to a trade with the Pacers, moving up in the draft one spot from No. 8 to No. 7 in order to select French forward Bilal Coulibaly, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Charania adds that Washington is shipping out two second-round draft picks in the deal. Per David Alridge of The Athletic, one of those second-round selections will stem from the six incoming picks they received from the Suns in their Bradley Beal trade, and the other will be one of the Wizards’ own future second-rounders.
Jeremy Woo of ESPN tweets that the Wizards opted to move up to ensure they selected Coulibaly before another club could select him, noting that the Jazz had grown intrigued by the swingman recently.
The 6-foot-8 small forward was a teammate of top pick Victor Wembanyama, now with the Spurs, on Metropolitans 92 this past season.
Coulibaly, a raw, athletic swingman, averaged 10.0 PPG on a .532/.452/.595 slash line, in addition to 6.1 RPG, 1.6 APG and 1.5 SPG.
Per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington, Coulibaly’s solid playoff performance alongside Wembanyama helped him move up teams’ internal predraft rankings. Hughes adds that he is a multifaceted defender, and his 7-foot-3 wingspan allows him to be effective on and off the ball.
Washington has been incredibly active this week, trading away Beal, Kristaps Porzingis and Chris Paul for younger pieces and future draft picks.
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