The Wizards remain committed to building around Bradley Beal, who inked a five-year, $251 million contract this past offseason.
Despite some noise indicating that the team could trade Beal (to a team like the Lakers), Josh Robbins of The Athletic reports that Washington wants to upgrade the pieces around Beal and continue with a “middle-build” strategy.
Beal has a no-trade clause anyways, so any deal the team would decide on has to be approved by Beal himself. Robbins indicates that the front office maintains a strong relationship with the shooting guard, something that has been the case since Tommy Sheppard took over the franchise reins.
Wizards Trade Candidates
Washington has several players who could be dealt.
- Kyle Kuzma: Kuzma is in the final year of his contract and there have been rumblings that he doesn’t want to be in Washington long-term. The team also has a surplus of forwards, including Rui Hachimura and Deni Avdija, who can easily step in and make moving Kuzma an easier task.
- Will Barton: Barton just arrived via a trade with the Nuggets this offseason, though he’s underperformed and is in a contract year. The Baltimore native has made just 37.1 percent of his shots this season during his 22.3 minutes per game (both figures are his lowest since the 2014-15 season, which was his first in Denver).
- Rui Hachimura: It once seemed like Hachimura would grow alongside Beal, though over the past two seasons, he hasn’t taken major strides forward. Part of that could be his ability to stay on the court, as he’s missed 57 of the possible 115 games over the past two seasons. There was a recent report that the Wizards offered Hachimura in a deal with the Suns for Jae Crowder, though Phoenix ultimately turned it down.
