Why This Trade Makes Sense For The Washington Wizards
Over the course of his career, Andre Drummond has averaged 13.8 rebounds/game and since 2015, has led the league in rebounds per game in four different seasons. Drummond is a low-post and more traditional big man who does not have an outside game, but he can still contribute to any team he is on and make a difference defensively.
With Bradley Beal, Russell Westbrook and Andre Drummond, the Wizards all-of-a-sudden look like a somewhat dangerous team and have some young talent around their three All-Stars to possibly begin to grow into something in the Eastern Conference.
While they would be giving up a significant chunk of their role players, Washington would still be left with Davis Bertans, Deni Avdija, Troy Brown Jr, Jerome Robinson, Garrison Matthews and Moritz Wagner, all of which are all under 24-years old and have a lot of potential moving forward.
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One of the big issues with acquiring Andre Drummond though is that he, Beal and Westbrook combined would account for close to 75% of the Wizards’ total salary payouts. Not only does this affect them this year in terms of paying taxes on this team, but they would have virtually no cap space moving forward to surround this team with role players in free agency.
They would be stuck with what they currently have and would have to utilize their young talents around their three All-Star talents. It is definitely a risk for the Wizards to trade for Drummond, but the upside he presents definitely outweighs the risks.
Not to mention, Bradley Beal is visibly frustrated in Washington and unless they do something to make this team better, they could end up losing him at a request of a trade. This would be a nightmare for the Wizards, especially since they just acquired Russell Westbrook before the season, so making this trade should be a no-brainer move for their management and front-office.
