Washington Wizards Looking To Shake Up Roster
Trading Russell Westbrook this past offseason was a great move for the Wizards to add more value to their roster, but Washington has struggled mightily in recent weeks. The Wizards are just 1-6 in their last seven games leading up to the trade deadline and it appears that changes are coming for this organization.
Bradley Beal seems to be the only player that is safe from trade talks at the deadline this season and the Wizards’ All-Star recently told NBC Sports Washington’s Chris Miller that the trade deadline is starting to negatively affect the team.
“We have a goal and the direction we’re trying to move towards, but we’re kind of hindered in the process of that with the deadline coming up and making proper adjustments on the team,” Beal told Miller.
“And I was just thinking about this last night, but it’s very tough to kind of be one foot in, one foot out as a player, if you know you’re possibly being traded, if your minutes are being skewed, if you don’t know when your opportunity comes and you feel like if you are out there, you have to kind of press and kind of showcase what you can do in the minutes that you have.”
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Washington is now one game out of the play-in tournament range in the Eastern Conference and while they lack the talent to be real contending threats this season, the Wizards are expected to make quite a few changes to their roster.
According to ESPN’s Zach Lowe on “The Lowe Podcast”, Montrezl Harrell and Spencer Dinwiddie are the two players drawing the most interest in trade discussions pertaining to the Wizards.
Harrell is a former Sixth-Man of the Year that was acquired from the Lakers as part of the Russell Westbrook trade this past offseason. In 42 games this season Montrezl Harrell has averaged 13.9 points, 7.0 rebounds and has shot 65.3% from the floor.
With the Wizards just getting big man Thomas Bryant back from injury and also having Daniel Gafford and Rui Hachimura in their frontcourt, who the team just extended the contract of, it does appear as if Harrell is available for the right price.
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Spencer Dinwiddie was acquired by the Wizards in a multi-team sign-and-trade this past offseason and has also been a key contributor for them. In 40 games, Dinwiddie has averaged 13.2 points, 5.7 assists and has shot 38.6% from the floor in his first season back since a torn ACL.
According to The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, the Wizards have interest in moving Spencer Dinwiddie because he “looks like a shell of his former self and his teammates do not want him there.”
This is certainly big news for the Wizards, who brought in Dinwiddie on a new three-year deal to pair with Bradley Beal moving forward. The search for another star to pair with Beal long-term still remains for the Wizards, however, not many teams have expressed interest in talking about a trade pertaining to their All-Star with Washington this season.
The Wizards are in trouble this season yet again and things are only going to get more complicated in the offseason when Bradley Beal is extension eligible.
