At 9-41, the Washington Wizards have not had a lot going for them throughout the 2023-24 season. That mentioned, the crew does function a number of veterans — most notably Kyle Kuzma — who have been believed to be garnering some commerce worth.
So naturally, the Wizards’ trade-deadline actions consisted of sending Daniel Gafford to the Mavericks for a late first-round decide.
Why? Simply…why? Of all of the gamers on the Wizards who have been thought of commerce candidates, Gafford is the one one who may very well be seen as a constructing block in Washington.
He is averaging career-highs this season in scoring (10.9 PPG), rebounding (8.0 RPG) and shot-blocking (2.2 BPG), and at solely 25, he nonetheless has room to develop.
Gafford’s function on the Wizards as an elite rim protector and lob risk isn’t going to be straightforward to switch. His passionate vitality was persistently a shiny spot on an in any other case torpid crew that far too typically appeared to only undergo the motions on the courtroom.
“The Landlord” was all the time a fan favourite in Washington, and he will probably be sorely missed.
Moreover, getting solely what’s prone to be a really late first-round decide for Gafford, in addition to veteran massive Richaun Holmes, is laughable.
If there was a proposal for him that Washington could not refuse, then that will be a bit extra comprehensible. This, although, quantities to subsequent to nothing — Holmes provides minimal worth each for the current and future, and draft picks exterior of the lottery vary typically flip into function gamers at greatest.
In the meantime, Kuzma remains to be right here. So is Tyus Jones. So are Landry Shamet and Delon Wright. All of them are most likely not going to be a part of the Wizards’ rebuild, so what is the level of maintaining them round throughout a misplaced season?
The Sacramento Kings have been supposedly in talks to accumulate Kuzma, however nothing ever got here of that.
In brief, the entire gamers whom the Wizards ought to have been aggressively buying weren’t traded. The one participant who ought to have been dealt solely as a final resort was, and it was for pennies on the greenback.
That is how unhealthy groups keep unhealthy.