Why The Washington Wizards Do The Deal
Plenty of Wizards fans won’t like this. They’ll be the same Wizards fans who would have traded Bradley Beal a season or two ago. We don’t exactly blame them.
The Wizards have been stuck on the NBA’s dreaded “mediocrity treadmill” for some time. It feels like every season, they either barely make, or barely miss the playoffs. If you think they should move Beal and start over, that’s fair. On the other hand, it doesn’t appear that the organization intends to do so.
With that assumption in mind, this is a good deal for the Wizards. At 34, Conley has flaws, but he’s still a great complementary player. Realistically, he’ll give the Wizards the best situation they’ve had at point guard since John Wall was in his prime, given the shortcomings of the Russell Westbrook experiment.
Following this deal, the Wizards could be sneakily competitive. In fact, they could be a Kristaps Porzingis comeback away from skipping the play-in tournament and heading straight to the playoffs.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Mike Conley, Utah Jazz & Washington Wizards Updates
Title contention should remain out of the question, but they’d still be likely to take a large step forward.
Meanwhile, the Jazz would be taking a giant, intentional step in the opposite direction. Is this enough value for Conley?