Southeast Notes: Wizards, Collins, Trade Landscape

The Wizards have a host of tradable assets that could help them shake things up, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington writes. That may be the franchise’s best hope of appeasing John Wall considering that they don’t have anywhere near enough financial flexibility to sign a free agent.

Hughes writes that both Wall and Bradley Beal could be considered untouchable this offseason but doesn’t grant such immunity to Otto Porter, the forward they paid handsomely just last summer. The 24-year-old is under team control for two more seasons and could play a role in landing an All-Star.

Other players that could be earmarked as potential trade bait include veterans Marcin Gortat and Markieff Morris and developing youngsters like Kelly Oubre and Tomas Satoransky. The latter may already be 26 years old but showed excellent progress in what was just his sophomore season.

There’s more out of the Southeast Division:

• The fate of the Eastern Conference depends on what LeBron James decides to do this offseason. If he heads west, it could open new opportunities for other contenders. If the 15-year veteran decides to return to the Cavaliers, it could precipitate a trade market in which teams like the Heat and Wizards could be involved, Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel writes.
• First-year Hawks big man John Collins won over plenty of fans during his rookie campaign, so much so that Mike Schmitz and Kevin Pelton of ESPN both rank him No. 7 in their list of the rookies from 2017/18 with the most future potential. That, according to the scribes, puts him ahead of players like Dennis Smith Jr. and Josh Jackson.
• The Wizards made the ambitious decision to help 23-year-old two-way contract rookie Devin Robinson reinvent his jumpshot. NBC Sports Washington’s Chase Hughes reports that Robinson was a solid shooter at Florida but ran into issues with his low release point.