Report: Wizards acquire Porzingis, trade Dinwiddie, Bertans, Harrell
The Washington Wizards reportedly made a series of trades ahead of Thursday's deadline, headlined by the acquisition of former All-Star Kristaps Porzingis from the Dallas Mavericks for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans, a source told ESPN's Tim MacMahon.
Meanwhile, the Charlotte Hornets acquired former Sixth Man of the Year Montrezl Harrell from the Wizards in exchange for Ish Smith and Vernon Carey, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, with a second-round pick also headed to Washington, Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes reports.
Washington also traded guard Aaron Holiday to the Phoenix Suns, reports The Athletic's Shams Charania. The Suns gave up cash and will slot the 25-year-old Holiday into the disabled player exception granted due to Dario Saric's torn ACL, per John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.
Porzingis, 26, averaged 20 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.7 blocks per game over parts of three seasons with Dallas. Injuries have also limited the 7-foot-3 big man's availability: Out of 202 regular-season games since the start of the 2018-19 season, Porzingis logged just 134 appearances.
At 24-29, the 11th-seeded Wizards' hopes of righting their season suffered a major blow with Tuesday's news that three-time All-Star shooting guard Bradley Beal would undergo season-ending wrist surgery.
Dinwiddie, acquired via sign-and-trade from the Brooklyn Nets in the offseason as part of the four-team Russell Westbrook trade, has 12.6 points per game on poor shooting efficiency and 5.8 assists per contest. He missed all but three games in 2020-21 after suffering a partially torn ACL.
The 28-year-old guard is in the first year of a three-year, $54-million deal with only a partially guaranteed figure in Year 3.
For his part, Bertans failed to live up to the five-year, $80-million contract he inked after breaking out with the Wizards in 2019-20. After averaging a career-high 15.4 points per game with 42.4% shooting on threes in his first year, the Latvian forward's production has dropped to 9.3 points per game with 37.6% 3-point shooting.
Bertans is owed $16 million in each of the next two seasons, but Year 5 is only guaranteed for $5 million if he fails to play at least 75% of his games in 2023-24.
Harrell, another acquisition from last summer's Westbrook trade, faced a playing time crunch even before Porzingis' reported addition. The 2019-20 Sixth Man of the Year still managed to tally 14.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2.1 assists a night, once again predominantly as a reserve alongside centers Daniel Gafford and Thomas Bryant.
Harrell will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.