The Wizards Gave Up Virtually Nothing For AD, 100/100 Trade

This trade is looking better by the second. The Wizards gave up more or less the 30th overall pick in this year's draft for Anthony Davis. And yeah, AD is injury-prone. We know that. But he did play 76 games only 2 seasons ago. In 2023-24 he averaged 24.7 ppg/12.6 rpg. So that being said, let's look at what the Wiz truly gave up for that sort of potential:

Let's start with the 3 2nd round picks. As we know, 2nd rounders have about a 5% hit rate. They are mostly for depth and to try and hit a diamond in the rough. Well, the Wizards got 6 (SIX) 2nd rounders back in the Bradley Beal trade, and have depth guys on the team already, so those 2nd rounders are virtually nothing burgers. 

And then the two 1st rounders, this year's OKC pick, which should be in the late 20s or better yet, in the 30s. And then a 2030 1st rounder from Golden State, which is top 20 protected. Yes, you read that right. TOP 20 PROTECTED.

Feel like that should have been reported way earlier because when you know that part of it, this is basically AD for this year's 30th pick. Also, the Wiz should already have won a championship by 2030, so who even cares about that year's draft anyway. And even still, it's top 20 protected!!!!

There's really no downside to this trade. Gave up none of the young core, still have this year's top 5 pick, and now Alex Sarr gets to play alongside AD. Add in Trae Young, Kyshawn George's continued development, and Tre Johnson (plus Bilal, Bub, Riley, etc) and this team is pretty loaded.

All things considered, the Wizards traded Kyle Kuzma and Brad Beal for Trae Young, Anthony Davis, and a bunch of pick swaps. Masterclass.