Washington Wizards: At a Crossroads

The Washington Wizards are at a crossroads (again) under owner Ted Leonsis.

There’s no secret that the organization is doing everything possible to keep Bradley Beal even if that meant trading John Wall. The Wizards did just that in the offseason. There are many reasons why the trade made sense and didn’t make sense. Whichever one you believe is up to you but we can all agree it doesn’t need to be rehashed.

The trade was made, in part, as a “think forward” move. The Wizards traded Wall to the Rockets. They made re-signing Davis Bertans a priority. That led to Bertans receiving a five year, $80 million deal. Even though the number $80M jumps out, the contract is certainly tradeable if the Wizards need to get out of it down the road and that might be the case.

Last night, the Wizards and Houston Rockets locked up for the first time this season. It was the first of two anticipated match-ups between Wall and Beal. Houston blew the doors off the Wizards, 107-88.

Wall scored 24 points on 9-21 shooting. The former first overall pick, played like a guy looking to prove a point.

“I thought they thought I was done,” said Wall “That’s why I came out here and did what I did.” (Washington Post).

None of this will determine if Beal will stay or go. The determining factor will lie in whether Beal thinks he can win in Washington with or without Wall or Russell Westbrook for that matter.

The early returns aren’t good. On the surface, it’s hard to mesh a team with new parts in key positions without having a traditional offseason. Covid-19 took away that possibility along with taking several games away when the Wizards were put on pause but the problem is much deeper than that.

It begins and ends on defense. Though the Wizards have seen some improvement but, per Cleaning the Glass, the Wizards are 25th in Points per 100 Possession, 24th in Effective Field Goal%, and 29th in Free Throw Rate. That’s not a DNA of a playoff team nevertheless a championship team and lets cut to the chase, that’s what Beal is looking for.

The rankings can’t necessarily be blamed on the secondary players. Though some of the worst defensive rates include players off the bench, those lineup combinations aren’t on the floor all that often. The most used lineup of Beal, Westbrook, Deni Avdija, Rui Hachimura, and Thomas Bryant (injured) is a major reason why the team is so poor defensively. That combination allows 120.8 points per 100 possessions along with an effective field goal% of 64%.

Unfortunately for the Wizards, there isn’t an easy answer for this issue. After the season, do you fire head coach Scott Brooks? If so, then what do you do with Westbrook when that was part of the reason why you traded for him?

Without answers to these questions, how do the Wizards keep Beal?

That’s the beauty and the curse of the NBA. More than any other sport, the NBA frontline stars put an emphasis on winning. As simple as that sounds, that isn’t present in all sports where players chase money, in part, because their careers are so short.

The curse is when you fail to surround a star with the necessary pieces, there’s a good chance that you’ll lose him. The league has put in a structure that allows the incumbent team the ability to pay the most. What the league and everyone else have found out is that isn’t enough to keep a frontline star.

The Wizards stand to lose everything. They willingly traded their former number one pick for a guard that is close with the current coach. A coach that isn’t guaranteed to return. There’s the cap situation that will limit what moves the Wizards can make. There’s a 3-10 record with no end to mediocrity in sight.

All this hangs over what the Wizards will do with Beal. Trade him for assets means the organization is on the hook for turning those assets into playoff winning moves.

It’s something the organization hasn’t done since 1972 when they acquired Elvin Hayes.

Photo Credit: Cato Cataldo/NBAE via Getty Images

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