The Wizards view Isaiah Livers and Marvin Bagley III as the most important parts of their trade with the Pistons on Sunday, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic, rather than the two second-round picks Detroit tossed in to rid itself of Bagley’s contract.
Washngton parted with Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala in the deal. The Wizards are banking on their player development system to get more out of the two forwards they acquired. The team can make Livers a restricted free agent this summer if it likes what it sees from him the rest of the season.
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- Josh Christopher is joining the Heat’s NBA G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. Christopher, who had a two-way contract with the Jazz before he was waived on Monday, appeared in 138 games with Houston from 2021-23 but hasn’t seen any NBA action this season. He has appeared in 18 games (17 starts) for the Jazz’s G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars, averaging 17.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 6.0 assists in 29.0 minutes per contest.
- Trae Young and Jalen Johnson are the only players the Hawks are unwilling to trade, John Hollinger of The Athletic confirms. There’s plenty of trade chatter involving Dejounte Murray and they’re also trying to determine the trade value of De’Andre Hunter and Clint Capela. The Hawks could use Murray as means to shed the contract of either Capela or Hunter.
- Hornets forward P.J. Washington returned to action on Sunday after missing the previous three games with a foot injury. the team’s PR department tweets. Washington, who is averaging 13.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game this season, signed a three-year contract over the summer.
Assuming the Wiz do know what they’re doing development wise, Bagley has the look of a solid acquisition. The jury is still out on Livers, He’s averaging 21 minutes a game in his career and done very little with it, lots of younger guys have done more with less opportunity.
My guess is that is them saying the right thing. High chance both don’t get a new contract from them.
You’re probably right, the real get for a rebuilding team is the picks. Though I like Bagley’s PER and things of that nature, he was likely just a means to more draft real estate.
Have you ever watched Bagley play basketball? 5th year in the league, hasn’t gotten any better. Hell, probably gotten worse. Has now been salary dumped twice.
I’d let Bagley just play. Let him play thru his mistakes. He needs a team to believe in him. Can still become a solid player. I’d only play him at the 4. Needs to get leaner. And will playing consistent mins.
I agree. Bagley needs solid minutes. Either start at PF and Kuzma to SF or play at center and Gafford is the backup. Wiseman needs the same opportunity with minutes for once
Bagley has averaged roughly 25mpg in his career, including being the starter in Sacramento for a decent stretch. They gave him every chance to flourish and develop, and he didn’t.
Wizards traded for his contract, not him as a player. And they got picks to take on that salary.
The article states they value the players over the picks so you’re wrong lol
I agree Bagleys had plenty of opportunities and hasn’t really improved at all but atleast Washington is trying to get better. Muscala and Gallo weren’t going to be long term pieces in their rebuild so your better off rolling the dice with Bagley and Livers and hoping they can finally show off something.
Detroit has obviously didn’t his to dump Bagley and get back expiring deals for FA, plus both guys off some shooting and they’ve struggled for floor spacing. Not the worst deal for them but it’ll over pay off if you manage to make good signings in the offseason
What would’ve been better would be had they dropped the picks and taken Wiseman over Bagley. I think Wiseman given a good opportunity could win the starting job over Gafford. He’s still got an incredibly high ceiling although he’s headed for FA and wouldn’t be the salary dump Detroit were after. Either way good deal Washington and lol whatever Detroit
Trading Dejounte as a means to “shed” the contract of Dre or Clint… lol that’s clearly ridiculous
Ya that makes zero sense to me…I feel like they keep making 2 steps forward and 2/3 steps back type of moves the last couple of years, and it’s been tough from outside perspective to see, just b/c I’ve felt they’ve had so much potential with their roster building, but certain things have just been confusing…only for them to then draft a couple of guys that fit perfectly or somehow land someone in a trade that would have been perfect had they not gotten rid of someone else, etc…I would have thought Snyder would fix their rotation issues, but health has been a concern at times, as well as what probably has to be issues getting people to play certain roles
Still like their outlook moving forward if they can add someone (long term) to replace Huerter at the 2/3 that can defend and shoot. If they could do that, I think everyone else falls into place in their respective positions in the rotation
That’s funny about Josh Christopher; I was just thinking of him as a theoretical option for the Heat a week or 2 ago. He is a Nick Young clone, with better defense, and slightly better decision making. He could be useful at the 1-3 in the right situation, and the Heat are looking for someone there to replace Dru Smith
I liked Livers in summer league a couple of years ago. He can give Washington another guy at the 3/4. They don’t use their roster the way they should already though, so not sure how that will pan out, but I think both are theoretically fits there, with Bagley at smallball 5
I’ve said it many times the last couple of years, but if I’m Atlanta, Capela is the 1st person I’m trying to move, and then maybe I’d be interested in what I could get for Trae Young, depending on what is or isn’t available to me in the Capela deal, as well as what that might also bring back. Losing Huerter for no reason made zero sense, and they should have tried to move Capela the last couple of years, in my opinion. Having said that, I’ve had questions about their rotation decisions these last couple of years with the guys they already have/had
3 team trade. Atlanta trades Murray and Capela to Miami, patty Mills to San Antonio. Miami trades Lowry, Jamie J, and jovic to San Antonio, a 1st to Atlanta. San Antonio trades Blake Wesley to Miami, Keldon Johnson, Zach Collins, Devonte Graham and a future 1st( least favorable) to Atlanta. San Antonio waives Lowry.
Basically hawks don’t have a concrete plan.