The Washington Wizards are in a tough playoff hunt. Currently, they stand at 27-31, which is only good enough for 11th in the East. If the season ended today, the Wizards would not even make the play-in tournament. However, there is still a lot of basketball to play, so the Wizards can still improve. To help them improve, here are three top buyout candidates for the Wizards after the blockbuster 2022 NBA Trade Deadline, ranked.

Wizards Buyout Candidates 

3) Eric Bledsoe

In all honesty, the Wizards right now just need offense. The team is currently ranked 25th in field goal attempts, 30th in made threes, 28th in attempted threes, and 28th in three-point percentage. With both Davis Bertans and Spencer Dinwiddie gone in the Kristaps Porzingis deal, they need two positions filled. For the guard, they should do everything to get Eric Bledsoe.

Obviously, Bledsoe is past his prime and is now working hard to get his next secure NBA deal. With an obvious hole in the guard rotation for the Wizards, Bledsoe can fill it up and earn his, likely, last NBA contract. His stats in the last couple of seasons suggest that he is not the same as the borderline All-Star a few years back, yet he can still get buckets on any given night. It is entirely true that the Wizards would lose defensively, as his six-foot-one frame is not enough to cope with larger guards, but he should be able to outweigh that with stellar offensive play.

Right now, the Wizards have Ish Smith, Raul Neto, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope filling out their backcourt rotation. Bradley Beal is out for the season while others are either rookies or young guys that do not impact the team as much. Thus, their priority must be to fill out a guard spot and Bledsoe is a very solid option. However, there are better ones out there.

2) Gary Harris 

If the Wizards do not want to lose out on the defensive end, but also get a capable scorer, Gary Harris is the path to go. His stint in the Orlando Magic is likely over. He was not traded by the deadline and will be bought out, most probably. When he is bought out, a lot of teams will be interested in a two-way guard that can shoot threes at a 38% clip, as he has done this season. Even more impressively, that was done on five attempts per game, which is very good.

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With Beal out, the Wizards will need a shooter, but it would not hurt to get better defensively as well. The problem of the Wizards this season has mostly been with inside defense. They currently allow around 47 points in the paint per game, good enough for the ninth-worst in the league. Harris will not help with that, obviously, but he will help establish a better defensive identity for his teammates. The Wizards really need to start somewhere and getting a capable two-way guard is a great start, especially for the generally scarce buyout market.

The Wizards need improvements, and Gary Harris is the prototype of what they need. He gets shots up, plays great defense, and is likely willing to fight for a playoff spot, as he was stuck in Orlando playing for a better lottery spot in the last season and a half. Yet, there is still a better option out there for the Wizards and he is the premier candidate to really improve the team from the Capital.

1) Dennis Schroder 

All of his recent criticisms aside, Dennis Schroder can put the ball in the hoop. He was able to do so in Atlanta, Oklahoma, and to a lesser degree in Los Angeles and Boston. Still, his numbers this year are still fairly good. In Boston, Schroder averaged 14.4 points on 44% shooting from the field and 34.9% shooting from three-point range. When it comes to bench gunners, these stats are very good. The Wizards need that scoring and he brings it more than both Bledsoe and Harris.

Of course, there will be some reservations, due to the way he ended his stint in the Lakers. Obviously, the Celtics, a very well-run franchise, were able to go over that, so there is no reason why the Wizards do not take the chance. With the options they currently have, going for anyone else first would be sacrificing the offensive potential of the entire team, as the modern NBA offense is centered around guards and wings. With the wings covered, the Wizards now need some offensive talent in the backcourt to score, but also to open up space for Porzingis, who needs some room in the middle to get his shots.

Thus, all logical thought points to a proven scorer and there is no better option than Schroder. The great thing about this buyout period is that the Wizards have options, depending on where they want to go. However, if they want to really improve a glaring hole, get to the play-in and reach the playoffs, they have to start at the guard spots and get an offensive-centered player there.