The Wizards are off to a 2-7 start, and while their schedule – which includes upcoming games against the Magic, Cavaliers, Mavericks, and Nets – offers them a path back to .500, it’s hard to get too excited about the long-term outlook for the franchise. Washington was the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference last season and doesn’t appear to be a legit contender this year.
With lucrative long-term contracts committed to John Wall, Bradley Beal, and Otto Porter, the Wizards could become more and more inclined to break up that “Big Three” if their struggles continue. And in the view of ESPN’s Zach Lowe, trading Wall may be the team’s “only get-out-of-jail card.” Lowe argues that trading Beal would hurt the team, while dealing Porter wouldn’t net a significant enough return to make a difference.
Of course, as Lowe concedes within the same piece, there are plenty of obstacles in the way of a possible Wall deal. His super-max contract will kick in next season and projects to be worth nearly $171MM over four years, running all the way through 2022/23. Wall’s 15% trade kicker would also complicate matters if he were dealt before or after the ’19/20 season.
On top of that, there just don’t seem to be that many potential suitors for the star point guard. Lowe points to the Suns as one plausible trade partner, noting that Phoenix badly needs a point guard and doesn’t have a seasoned GM in place to help keep owner Robert Sarver in check.
Porter has been the Wizards player more frequently cited as a trade candidate, and there are certainly teams that could use a three-and-D wing like him. The Nets, who signed him to an offer sheet in 2017, are one of many, as NetsDaily observes. However, Porter is off to a poor start this season, has a pricey contract (three years and $81.75MM remaining), and may not be more than a very good role player even at his best. It seems unlikely that any club would be willing to give up significant assets for him unless Washington was willing to take on another bad contract or two.
Beal, who also has three years left on his max deal, is easily the most valuable trade chip of the trio. He has missed just five games since the start of the 2016/17 season and has posted 22.9 PPG and 4.0 APG with a .471/.388/.805 shooting line over that same period. The Wizards could theoretically land a star player in a trade if they were willing to make Beal available. However, as Lowe suggests, he’s also the player whose departure would hurt Washington the most, since he’s a star in his own right.
Given how expensive Wall, Beal, and Porter will be for the next three seasons, it’s hard to imagine the Wizards finding a way to add another impact player to that trio to elevate the squad into a viable title contender. At some point then, the team will have to think long and hard about trading one of them — it just won’t be easy to determine which player makes the most sense on the trade block, since there are clear pros and cons to moving each one.
What do you think? Do you view Wall, Beal, or Porter as the Wizards’ most logical trade candidate, given what the team could realistically expect in return for each player? Or do you think it makes more sense for the Wizards to simply hang onto all three and look for another way to fortify their core?
Vote below, then head to the comment section to weigh in!
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Beal to Lakers for Ingram and KCP.
Why would the Wizards do that?
Why would the lakers do that? I don’t think the deal really makes sense for either team.
Do you hate Homer Simpson?
It’s clearly Wall to me, but it seems like he would be next to impossible to move, even if they’re just looking to get the contract off the books.
Wall to the Knicks in the offseason if the Knicks strike out on Irving or Butler?
Beal and Kelly Oubre are the only real tradeable assets the Wizards have. Otto Porter and Ian Mahinmi aren’t worth the contracts they have. Howard is out of the question. Wall’s Jimmy Butler type attitude makes him more difficult to trade, not to mention his supermax contract. Rivers has only performed well for his dad. The Nets did a number on the Wizards and Trailblazers signing Porter and Crabbe and forcing them to match their offer.
IMO, Porter is the most practical guy to move despite his slow start to the season.
From the Wiz perspective, he’s never been a big part of the “good” Wizards. A part, yes, but not like Wall and Beal, even when is numbers were stellar. The Wiz can still be what they were (when good) without him.
From the acquiring team’s perspective, the hidden benefits are his age, position and place in the team pecking order. There are fewer true 3’s that have come into the league through the top part of last 6 drafts (starting with Porter’s draft) than any other position and (other than Tatum) nobody’s really jumped out as a rising star. Porter’s 25, and almost all of the better players at his spot are older than him. He’s both a true 3 and has position flexibility, especially defensively. His contract is max, but it’s a rookie max (prior to the recent cap) and he’s unlikely to command a re-up at current max.
His production doesn’t match hjis contract. The Wizards tried to dump him off on the Pacers for Paul George before he signed his contract. They wanted to do a sign and trade. The Pacers said no. The Pacers waited until Bojan Bogdonovich got released when Porter signed and got him on a much better contract. Bogdonovich is a better shooter than Porter. Porter is making $25mm a year. The Pacers got Bogdonovich at $12mm a year.
The first statement is true of Wall and Beal. As well as a bunch of players around the league. Wall is going to make 38 mm next year and 170 mm over the next 4 starting with his age 29 year, and the extension-matching rules alone make it more difficult to trade him. Beal makes the same as Porter, but he would be much harder for the Wiz to replace, and might not bring back much more because fewer teams are looking for a SG. I don’t think teams really care how a guy is currently playing, or if his current contract is frothy for the next couple of years, except as it relates to cap space – but some teams are out of the cap space business over the next two seasons, so who cares. I think they can move Porter and improve their balance sheet over the next few years, without necessarily hurting the product on the court.
If the Wizards are able to move Porter they won’t get any value back. The best they could hope for is an expiring contract to free up cap space they can spend on the future. Wall’s contract is untradeable with the trade kicker and his suspect attitude, and I don’t even think they can get much for Beal but maybe a decent draft pick. Bottom line is the Wiz are in purgatory with no real good solutions available. It’s kind of sad considering the promise they showed a few years ago.
Teams don’t want bad contracts these days. See Carmelo Anthony, Luol Deng, Gorgui Deng, Joakim Noah etc. This will be a big year in free agency (half the NBA players will be free agents, most teams haved saved their cap space for it) so teams will watch their cap space closely. How a player is playing always matters in trades. See Tom Thibodeaux, Danny Ainge, Kevin Pritchard, Greg Popovich. These guys are shrewd dealers.
Bad examples, those are older and/or useless players. There has been a cap crunch since 2016, but it’s beginning to thaw as those contracts begin to get closer to expiration. Lots of teams will cap space next summer, and few are getting elite FA types.
For a 25 year old player who has been great at times over his career, NO, it really doesn’t matter a whole lot how well he’s playing over the first 10 games of this season.
Not sure what the GMs you listed said, but all (like every other GM) have tried to get guys at low points. Pacers acquired VO coming off a horrible year with OKC and Pritchard took heat for it (as his extension for 20 mm plus was kicking in, and he wasn’t playing like even a MLE guy); Sabonis had a bad year as a rookie too. Porter and VO were the same draft class.
Nobody wants bad contracts. You’re dealing with very intelligent general managers who have been doing their jobs for some time. They are not like us. They just can’t say I like that, let’s do it. Kevin Pritchard has been doing his job for a long time. He was looking at was best for Indiana. Oladipo is from the University of Indiana so Pritchard knew he’d want to play for the Pacers and the fans would want him. Sabonis has been a pleasant surprise. Like George, Kyrie, Kawhi, and Butler, this takes patience. GM’s want the best players they can get, that they actually need, and that suits them financially. If Porter was making $17mm a year instead of $25mm a year, I might agree you. The Wizards didn’t want to give Porter (George was making $17mm a year when they contacted the Pacers) that contract, the Nets forced them to.
If the Wizards are able to move Porter they won’t get any value back. The best they could hope for is an expiring contract to free up cap space they can spend on the future. Wall’s contract is untradeable with the trade kicker and his suspect attitude, and I don’t even think they can get much for Beal but maybe a decent draft pick. Bottom line is the Wiz are in purgatory with no real good solutions available. It’s kind of sad considering the promise they showed a few years ago.
Ptn compares Wall, Beal, & Porter to Deng, Dieng, & Noah. What research led to that?
I said NBA GM’s don’t want bad contracts like Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith (LeBron is responsible for them). What part of that don’t you understand? I like to get my information and cross reference them from intelligent sources.
AGAIN you put things into your own words. In no way did I compare them to each other. I SAID teams won’t want Wall because of his attitude and $40mm contract. Teams haven’t wanted Porter because his contract is bigger than his production. I said Beal and Oubre are their best assets. I’ve said we can read the same article and get 2 very different things from it. I read a lot on the web because I’m intelligent enough to know whathe professional writers are saying.
What the “professional” writers are saying.
This article is basically about Wall, Beal & Porter. Leave your small fry comparisons out of it.
Bad contracts CAN be moved but you are listing a different level of bad.
Wall and Satoransky to the Mavs for Matthews expiring contract and Dennis Smith Jr.
Pair Smith with Beal for the next few years free up Walls contract.
Mavs are in a good position spot with Wall and Doncic
Because of Wall’s supermax extension kicking in next year, I don’t think that will work under the cap.
Porter is the Batum of that roster.
some owners are content at remaking barely relevant, some players just want to pad stats and collect checks. win/win
Beal for Jimmy Butler
I thought about that. How do they attach Gorgui Dieng though? Minnesota is saying they won’t make a deal unless someone takes Dieng. Could you imagine Butler and Wall going at it?
Works on trade machine, but I doubt it: Wizards get Butler and Dieng from Minnesota, Suns get Teague from Minnesota, Minnesota gets Beal and Austin Rivers from Washington, and Mikal Bridges and a protected 1st from Phoenix. Minnesota gets their win now (Beal), future (Bridges), and draft pick plus cap relief from Phoenix. Phoenix gets a point guard.
Washington gets their defensive upgrade.
Teague is not very good. I doubt the Suns would want any part of that. And Jimmy and Wall projects to be a head case nightmare, but good try I guess.
Sound like Thibs. lol
Ha. Good ole Thibs could care less about the future of the Wolves. He only wants to win this year to make himself look good. In fact I bet he prefers they don’t get future assets for Butler so they don’t succeed when he’s gone. What a mess..
If the Wizards are able to move Porter they won’t get any value back. The best they could hope for is an expiring contract to free up cap space they can spend on the future. Wall’s contract is untradeable with the trade kicker and his suspect attitude, and I don’t even think they can get much for Beal but maybe a decent draft pick. Bottom line is the Wiz are in purgatory with no real good solutions available. It’s kind of sad considering the promise they showed a few years ago.
That post was triplicated.
The FO has movable assets to move, they just won’t, overvaluing their own players like everyone does.
Beal is their best asset
Porter is most likely to be dealt
Wall will be hardest to move but the one they need to move the most
Wall is cancer and is the oldest so try to deal him first. But no team in their right mind wants that contract.
Born and raised in raised in North Carolina. Hmm. Maybe they can dupe MJ into trading for him and Austin Rivers in exchange for Kemba and Batum.