The Wizards have agreed to a trade with the Pacers, moving up in the draft one spot from No. 8 to No. 7 in order to select French forward Bilal Coulibaly, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
According to Charania (via Twitter), Washington is sending two second-round draft picks to Indiana in the deal. Per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link), those two picks are 2028 second-rounders: the Wizards’ own and an incoming pick from the Suns acquired in their Bradley Beal trade.
Jeremy Woo of ESPN tweets that the Wizards opted to move up to ensure they were able to draft Coulibaly before another club could select him, noting that the Jazz had grown intrigued by the swingman recently.
The 6’8″ small forward was a teammate of this year’s top pick, now-Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama, on Metropolitans 92 this past season. A raw, athletic swingman, Coulibaly averaged 10.0 PPG on a .532/.452/.595 slash line, in addition to 6.1 RPG, 1.6 APG and 1.5 SPG.
Per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington, Coulibaly’s solid playoff performance alongside Wembanyama helped him move up teams’ internal pre-draft rankings. Hughes adds that he is considered a multifaceted defender, and his 7’3″ wingspan allows him to be effective on and off the ball.
Washington has been incredibly active this week, agreeing to trade away Beal, Kristaps Porzingis, and Chris Paul for younger pieces and future draft picks.
The Pacers are using the No. 8 pick to select Houston forward Jarace Walker.
Luke Adams contributed to this report.
He can help Johnny Davis lead the wizards G-league team to a title next year. Back to back terrible picks by wizards. Wizards going to wizards
Tyus Jones is gonna be HUGE for Bilal Coulibaly’s development & ditto for Haliburton & Jarace Walker
Agree with you. Smooth, super athletic, incredible hops, very young (only 18 years old). Excellent choice.
Bro can we please retire the word raw as an adjective to describe these guys
What’s a better option? High Upside Low Production?
Why?? The word fits..you have a better word, scholar??
“Raw” is the perfect word for it. “not being in polished, finished, or processed form” or “lacking experience or understanding” from Merriam-Webster.
I guess that describes everyone in the draft
Can we please retire the word Bro as we know each other and like each other! Bro, Buddy, Pal!