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The Washington Wizards made the move to finally move on from longtime starting point guard John Wall after sending him and a protected first-round pick to the Houston Rockets in exchange for former league MVP Russell Westbrook. The Wizards’ first-round pick they are sending to the Rockets is a 2023 first-round pick with lottery protection.
The way that protection works in the first-round pick is if the Wizards don’t make the playoffs, they keep the 2023 first-round pick and will send a 2024 first-round pick, protected in the top 12. If the Wizards finish as one of the league’s bottom 12 teams in 2024, then the traded pick becomes a protected top 10 first-round pick. The following year, if the protection continues, he would become a protected top eight pick in 2026, followed by two second-round picks in 2027 if all the protections in the pick hit, which is highly unlikely.
By trading John Wall, the Washington Wizards made it clear to fans and the rest of the NBA that they will make the most of Bradley Beal’s prime and surround him with legitimate talent in efforts to boost the playoffs and potentially more. While Wall was a solid player for Washington for years, he was more of a liability than an asset at this point in his career.
John Wall had a lot of question marks around him, as he hasn’t played in an NBA game since December 2018, and by getting a guy you know is good for a triple-double a night at Russell Westbrook, the Wizards are all of a sudden, an East team that could make the playoffs.
Washington needs to do a bit more in terms of its roster to be a legitimate contender in the Eastern Conference, but this move from Westbrook definitely puts them in the conversation.
With this trade finalized and completed, here are three bold predictions about the aftermath of this trade and its effect on the 2020-21 NBA season for the Washington Wizards and Houston Rockets.
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