Washington Wizards: 3 trade options before 2018 NBA Trade Deadline
Kevin Love
FINALLY! A trade where the Wizards don’t trade their first round pick away to get better. In fact, in this trade they gain a pick. It should be noted before diving into this crazy and improbable trade that Bradley Beal has been playing fantastic this season. He might be the Wizards’ best player this year, and if he stays on the team, their future.
Having said that, Beal is less than two years removed from being labeled as an injury-prone guy who can’t stay on the court. Giving him a huge contract for four years means you’re taking a chance that his injuries were just growing pains and he’s fine now. Having said all of that, the Beal and John Wall dynamic duo doesn’t seem like it’s enough to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals.
On top of that, there might come a time where just like LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, Bradley Beal and John Wall cannot coexist. We’ve seen small wrinkles of it when Beal called their team meeting earlier this year “pointless.”
So to dive into the trade, the Cavaliers get an All-Star shooting guard who can knock down 3s and make plays and give up Kevin Love, Isaiah Thomas (who hasn’t really worked out so far), some salary cap filler and the big Brooklyn Nets first-rounder to sweeten the deal.
On top of that, the Wizards would get off of Gortat’s contract and on top of the Nets pick could gain a whopping $13 million in cap space next off season. This trade is outright crazy, and not the usual thing you’d see on deadline day, but which team says no?
There’s a case to be made the Cavaliers have a better chance to win a title with Bradley Beal and Gortat than Kevin Love and Isiah Thomas. There’s also a much sadder case to be made that in the long run, the Wizards would be better off splitting up Bradley Beal and John Wall in an attempt to make the Eastern Conference Finals down the road.
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Beal is an amazing young player entering his prime, which is why the Wizards would need an incredible amount in order to trade him, but a team with John Wall, Otto Porter Jr. and Kevin Love seems like it could be pretty dangerous.