Skip to content

Casciaro: Wizards/Suns swap about two teams with different goals

With a notable trade just days before the season is set to tip off, the Wizards and Suns cemented their positions as two teams with very different goals for the 2013-14 campaign. One, a fringe playoff team going for playoffs or bust. The other, a tanking team looking to bottom out with an eye to the future.

In terms of the two major players included in the deal, the first thing to note is that the Wizards would be taking a step back in terms of defense and rebounding by going from starting Emeka Okafor to starting Marcin Gortat, but when you consider that Okafor is out indefinitely with a herniated disc, what the Wiz have actually done is go from a frontcourt by committee that included Nene plus Trevor Booker/Al Harrington/Kevin Seraphin/Jan Vesely to a frontcourt that will mainly consist of Nene and Gortat, a huge upgrade for Washington.

Gortat should provide at least average defense and rebounding for the Wizards, but his real advantage over Okafor (or anyone else the Wizards were going to trot out at center this season) is on the offensive side of the ball, where he's a much more efficient option and an excellent pick-and-roll partner for John Wall and Bradley Beal.

The Wizards already looked prepared to join teams like the Pistons, Hawks, Raptors and Cavaliers in a race for the top-heavy Eastern Conference's final playoff seeds. With this move, they have given those hopes an obvious boost.

Financially for the Wizards, this deal comes with little to no risk, as they dump Okafor's $14,487,500 expiring contract for two other expiring contracts in Gortat and Shannon Brown, Kendall Marshall's rookie scale contract  and Malcolm Lee's cheap $884,293 deal (Brown, Marshall and Lee will all reportedly be waived).

Where the future risk lies for Washington is in the 2014 first round pick they're giving up. Yes, it's top-12 protected, but the 2014 class is loaded with potential game changers and if the Wizards fall near the end of the lottery or even the middle of the first round - a very likely destination - their pick heads to Phoenix.

Speaking of Phoenix, while this deal makes them appreciably worse in the short-term, it's a shrewd move that should pay off in the long term. The Suns were already projected to finish at or near the bottom of the Western Conference (and overall) standings by design. Now they've traded arguably their best player and the only proven big man on their roster (plus some fringe rotation players) for an injured player on an expiring contract and a draft pick that won't take the court for at least a year.

In short, the Suns just added at least a few extra losses in their race to the bottom and an extra first round pick that could give them four first round picks in the most loaded draft class in years. Now that is how you bottom-out and go 'Riggin for Wiggins.'

All salary information courtesy of ShamSports.com

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox