ESPN was first to report the commerce, which is in keeping with the Wizards’ big-picture targets as they enter the second 12 months of a rebuild: Look to collect commerce capital and set themselves as much as purchase excessive lottery picks in coming drafts. There may be loads of expertise within the 2024 draft class, however nobody as tantalizing as Cooper Flagg, subsequent 12 months’s projected No. 1 choose who’s slated to attend Duke for the upcoming season.
Within the meantime, Sarr — the second Frenchman taken in Wednesday’s draft after Atlanta took Zaccharie Risacher first, and the second Frenchman in a row the Wizards have drafted after Bilal Coulibaly — is a superb match. A fluid massive man with an all-around sport, he’s a gifted shot-blocker with the power to shoot from the perimeter and a maturity that comes from taking part in in Australia’s Nationwide Basketball League. He averaged 9.7 factors, 4.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 17.2 minutes per sport for Perth, which had the NBL’s second-best report.
Most significantly, his versatility and sky-high potential means the Wizards could have choices down the road. Develop him right into a star, and Sarr may shine in Washington long run. Or he may assist Washington purchase a championship-caliber celebrity far down the road.
Sarr’s impending arrival is one factor that might assist soothe the sting of Avdija’s departure for followers. The opposite is that Washington flipped the 23-year-old for 2 first-round picks.
The Israel native had as near a breakout season as one may have whereas taking part in for the second-worst crew within the NBA, and he has endeared himself to Wizards followers for the reason that group drafted him ninth total in 2020.
He averaged a career-high 14.7 factors and seven.2 rebounds whereas capturing 50.6 % from the sphere because the Wizards completed with a 15-67 report. And whereas nonetheless solely 23, he grew to become a locker room linchpin together with his earnestness and humorousness.
In Brogdon, the Wizards tackle a 31-year-old guard coming into the ultimate 12 months of a contract during which he’s owed $22.5 million. A former standout at Virginia taken within the second spherical of the 2016 draft, Brogdon averaged 15.7 factors whereas capturing 44 % from the sphere and 41 % from past the arc in 28.7 minutes throughout 39 video games for the Path Blazers.
