The Washington Wizards‘ 2018 season is in danger of spiraling out of control. While the team isn’t ready to through in the towel just yet, reports are surfacing that the Wizards giving the impression that no player is exempt from possible trade talks including All-Star guards John Wall and Bradley Beal.
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At 5-11 the Wizards are currently sitting in 11th place in the Eastern Conference and after a weekend of back-to-back home losses, Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the Wizards are willing to consider trades for anyone on their roster.
Story on ESPN: Wizards signaling a willingness to consider trade overtures on entire roster, including All-Star guards John Wall and Bradley Beal. https://t.co/LM7PiQvweB
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 19, 2018
The Detroit Pistons are one of several potential trade partners that could look to take advantage of the Wizards’ disastrous situation. While almost any team would be interested in adding either John Wall or Bradley Beal to their roster, 3-and-D player Otto Porter Jr would also make a nice addition to Pistons.
Why would the Pistons be interested in trading for a high-end option like Wall or Beal? With the franchise looking to build around the Griffin-Drummond frontline, the Pistons should look to maximize their efforts over the next few seasons with Blake Griffin under contract.
It’s, of course, worth taking the finances into consideration. John Wall just signed a four-year contract extension worth $169 million through the 2022-23 season, Bradley Beal is in year three of his five-year $127.7 million contract, and Otto Porter is in year two of a four-year $106.5 million contract.
Given the size of the contracts a potential trade could end up hurting Tom Gores’ wallet, but with the Pistons not having the cap space to sign a max free agent until 2020 this may be their best opportunity to add another big-time player to the starting lineup.
Blake Griffin has been having a tremendous season so far and Andre Drummond has been a solid wingman for him, but the current roster has a limited ceiling with the expectations being a low to a mid-level playoff team at best. The Pistons need a third piece if they really want to challenge the top teams in the East, and adding either John Wall or Bradley Beal to Griffin and Drummond would give the Pistons a really nice big-three to play around.
