Washington Wizards at a crossroads with their trade options

The Washington Wizards need to make a trade, but given their financial situation, a worthwhile deal doesn’t seem all that possible.

To say the Washington Wizards are in a state of chaos would be a tremendous understatement.

As one of the better teams in the league on paper, they’ve started the season with a disappointing 6-11 record. If that weren’t enough, ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski has reported that nobody on the roster is untouchable in a trade.

Less than a day later, Woj also published a story detailing a fine issued to All-Star John Wall for some less than flattering words directed at head coach Scott Brooks during one of a few hostile practice sessions that have taken place, in which the players got into verbal altercations as well.

During one of those sparring sessions of words, Bradley Beal turned to team officials and said “I’ve been dealing with this for seven years,” according to The Athletic‘s Shams Charania.

Simply put, chaos resides in the nation’s capital.

In this era of basketball, the Wizards have always been underachievers, much more content to talk a big game rather than show it. Every chance they’ve had to take the leap and prove they belong among the NBA’s elite, they fall flat on their face.

For whatever reason, the pieces don’t fit together, and given their relative lack of success and how this toxicity has clearly boiled over after years of remaining somewhat internal, it makes sense for Washington to try and start the next chapter.

The only problem is there really isn’t a clear answer as to how to do so, which stems from the money general manager Ernie Grunfeld and company have dished out over the years to their core trio.

John Wall will be paid an average of over $42 million in each of the next four seasons. Bradley Beal still has three years and roughly $80 million left on his contract. And Otto Porter Jr. famously signed a four-year, $106.5 million offer sheet the Wizards matched in the summer of 2017.

That’s a lot of money for three players, and while the trade value for each varies considerably given a bevy of other factors, even the best will require a significant amount of assets in return, while the trade partner must be willing to strap themselves to a single player for the foreseeable future.

At 25 years old, Beal has become one of the best 2-guards in the league and could improve more in a bigger role. Ideally, the Wizards would like to keep him around.

Porter’s contract is pretty ridiculous, but he provides everything teams want in a role player, including versatility on defense with the ability to space the floor and create shots on offense.

Then there’s Wall, who aside from his contract is 28 years old with multiple surgeries to the lower half of his body — a huge red flag given his reliance on speed and athleticism.

It seems like the players Washington would want to keep are the same ones others are inquiring about the most. So what should the team do? Do they trade a guy like Wall for pennies on the dollar if even possible? After all, not many teams are in the market for a point guard, and certainly not one with as much money owed and baggage as the five-time All-Star brings to the table.

Or do they part with the ones who could bring back the most in return but also subsequently put all their eggs in the basket of a man who’s seemingly alienated everyone within the organization at some point or another?

This team has run its course. No matter what type, changes have to be made. Considering the situation Washington has put itself in by handcuffing itself to a group of players that are less than the sum of their parts, that type is anyone’s guess.