The Washington Wizards had a disappointing season in 2018-19, going 32-50. It was their first 50-loss campaign since the 2012-13 season. Due to that, Washington has the ninth overall pick in the upcoming 2019 NBA Draft.
Many have speculated what they'll do with that ninth pick. There are a number of players they could take there, as well as deciding to surprise everyone and simply trade the pick — possibly for an established player or future picks.
However, if the Wizards were smart, they'd use that pick this Summer.
Here are three reasons why the Washington Wizards should NOT trade their first-round pick in 2019.
John Wall and Bradley Beal Contracts
John Wall and Bradley Beal are the undisputed stars of the Washington Wizards. Both are near the top of the NBA at their positions and absolutely deserve to be paid.
That being said, both are getting quite a bit of money in upcoming years (especially Wall). That could handcuff the team as to what else they can do with their roster. Having a top-10 pick under a relatively “cheap” contract would do wonders.
Getting a player like Cameron Reddish or Nassir Little could help turn the fortunes of the Wizards around quickly. Pairing someone like those two longer wings (Reddish is 6'8″ and Little is 6'6″) gives them someone who can stretch the floor, but also crash the boards and cut to the basket.
Those two are also both potential stars that could be the next faces of the franchise.
Talent
Even if the Washington Wizards don't take either of those two players, all hope isn't lost. This is an extremely deep draft. Zion Williamson (Duke) is considered one of the best prospects we've seen in a long time. Ja Morant (Murray State) has everyone infatuated with him as well. That means RJ Barrett (Duke) is the consensus third pick – he'd potentially be a first-overall pick in a lot of other drafts.
Coby White is expected to go in the top-10 and is considered an elite prospect who could turn into a superstar in the NBA. However, he's seen as the second best point guard in the draft after Darius Garland (Vanderbilt).
The point is, there are so many highly-rated prospects in this draft. This isn't a case of crapshoot.
Yes, any pick can be hit-or-miss. You could take the most obvious elite prospect and he could be out of the league in three years. At the same time you could take a flier on a late second-round pick and end up with a superstar.
Usually, there's a heavy amount of speculation with picks outside of even the top-five. This year, things are a little different though. Teams should be extremely confident with their top-10 picks. So much so that trading them should only happen if there's a fantastic return.
Rebuilding
The Washington Wizards ran into some tough luck in 2018. Mainly this was caused by John Wall only appearing in 32 games. That being said, it still showed a glaring issue. This team isn't on a championship path.
Even if Wall was healthy, how many games were they going to win? Playoffs were very possible, but to think they would've gone far is a pipe dream. The money tied up in Wall and Beal aren't going to allow the Wizards to add stars around them either. So they're kind of stagnant.
It's also getting hard to trust Wall as this is the second straight year he played in half-or-less of the games in the regular season.
With that in mind, the Wizards might need to start thinking about their next era. Starting over with a new face of the franchise. What better time than now, starting with a top-10 pick.
They still have Wall and Beal to help him grow. And if everything works out, he could be the piece that pushes them over the top to get into the Championship picture. If the number nine pick can't do that though, he theoretically is still a great cornerstone piece to rebuild your franchise with.
The Washington Wizards record has gotten worse in each of the last two seasons – this one seeing a 50-loss campaign. Clearly it's time for a change and this could be the pick to start that.
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