The Washington Wizards made the move to finally move on from long-time starting point guard, John Wall, after sending him and a protected first-round pick to the Houston Rockets in exchange for former league MVP, Russell Westbrook. The Wizards’ first-round pick they are sending to the Rockets is a 2023 first-round pick with lottery protection on it. 

The way the protection on the first-round pick works is if the Wizards do not make the playoffs, they keep the 2023 first-round pick and will send a 2024 first-round pick, protected top 12. If the Wizards finish as one of the bottom 12 teams in the league in 2024, then the traded pick becomes a 2025 first-round pick protected top 10. The following year, if the protection follows, it would be turned into a 2026 top-eight protected pick, followed by two second-round picks in 2027 if all the protections on the pick hit, which is highly unlikely. 

By trading John Wall, the Washington Wizards have made it clear to fans and the rest of the NBA that they are going to make the most out of Bradley Beal’s prime and surround him with legit talent in efforts to make a playoff push and potentially more. While Wall was a solid player for Washington for years, he was more of a liability than an asset at this point in his career. 

John Wall had a lot of question marks surrounding him, as he has not played in an NBA game since December of 2018, and by getting a guy that you know is good for a triple-double per night in Russell Westbrook, the Wizards are all of a sudden a team in the East who could make it to the playoffs. 

Washington needs to do a little more in terms of their roster in order to be a legit contender in the Eastern Conference, but this move for Westbrook definitely puts them in the conversation.

With this trade being finalized and completed, here are three bold predictions about the aftermath of this trade and its effect on the 2020-21 NBA season for the Washington Wizards and Houston Rockets.