Washington Wizards: Appreciating assets
Trevor Ariza is the Washington Wizards‘ last chance at salvaging this season, and quite possibly this core’s future together. If (read: “when”) that fails, it’ll be time for management to stop putting Band-Aids on wounds that require amputation.
A more fitting Christmas wish would be someone trading for Otto Porter Jr. or John Wall‘s appalling contracts, but that probably isn’t going to happen before February. Bradley Beal is the team’s most attractive asset, but he’s also the one Washington should cling to for the inevitable rebuild that’s coming.
The Wizards actually aren’t that far away from a bottom-rung playoff spot, sitting three games behind the current 8-seed. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely something so broken will somehow come together for anything more than a first round exit. At this point, the kindest gift Santa can bring is mercy in the form of Wall and Porter playing so well that some other desperate team makes a generous trade offer to jumpstart the next chapter.