Trading for Trevor Ariza is a short-sighted move that offers false hope to Wizards fans, writes Tom Ziller of SB Nation. Washington makes a similar move nearly every season, Ziller notes, adding veteran players who are supposed to be difference makers, but the team has won just three playoff series since John Wall arrived.
The addition of Ariza, in a deal expected to be completed tomorrow, seems almost certain to be a short-term move. His contract expires at the end of the season, Washington doesn’t acquire his Bird Rights because he’s on a one-year deal and the team already projects to be over the cap for 2019/20.
The Wizards wanted to unload Kelly Oubre, who is being shipped to Phoenix, before he hit restricted free agency next summer. But Ziller blasts that thought process as well, contending the team would have been better off taking its chances that Oubre wouldn’t get an offer that’s too expensive to match. As it stands, Washington will probably enter next season without Ariza, Oubre or anything else to show from this weekend’s trade.
There’s more from the nation’s capital:
- Players were left in disbelief after the bizarre circumstances of Friday’s canceled trade, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. Oubre and Austin Rivers learned they were being dealt Friday night, then found out the deal collapsed before it was revived in a different form Saturday morning. “It was kind of weird and kind of difficult,” Wall said. “[We] go into the locker room and we’re about to shower and stuff and we don’t understand who is about to get traded, who’s been traded. It was kind of a tough situation. I give those guys a lot of credit. They handled that stuff like professionals. A lot of guys could have reacted in different ways, which I have seen in the past.”
- Wall understands the financial component of the deal and why the team wasn’t optimistic about keeping Oubre, Hughes adds in the same piece. Washington has the sixth-highest payroll in the league and is facing a significant luxury tax payment. The team has made three trades already this season and has saved money on each one. “We have three guys that are paid pretty high,” Wall said. “And then understanding what Kelly is going to receive or ask for this summer, I don’t think we have the money to match it. So, I think that’s the reason why we made that trade.”
- The Wizards sent $500K to the Bucks in last week’s deal that brought in Sam Dekker for Jason Smith, tweets Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.
Ariza will probably be traded at the deadline
If they do want to keep Ariza (and feel they have the $$ for it), they can at least use his non-Bird rights to keep him at anything up to $18MM per season. So they have the means to match any offer he’s likely to receive.
Porter needs to go. He should have never been paid that max deal.
Ziller needs to get used to it. Teams, for many good reasons, have always felt they almost had to match an offer sheet (even if an overpay) for a player they drafted who’s still in his early 20s. But its getting too expensive, and there’s now a punitive luxury tax. So, why not sell them off the potentially good, but not potentially great, guys for something in advance. It also eliminates having the threat of an offer sheet hold your off season hostage (from the draft to real FA market), and/or not matching and letting teams think they can cherry pick your guys.
Nothing short sighted in getting a much better player now, and likely next year too, and one who (believe it or not) is more likely to be on the Wiz next year than Oubre, and at a more reasonable price.