Assessing The Athletic’s P.J. Washington trade for the Milwaukee Bucks

The lunacy behind The Athletic’s P.J. Washington trade for Milwaukee Bucks

I don’t think there’s a ton of lunacy behind trading for Washington from the Bucks’ perspective, especially given the package that Nehm laid out in the initial offer.

Nwora is someone that I’m a fan of, but I also don’t think his value is high enough to acquire a player of significance given his limited playing time and shaky moments when he does get minutes. I feel like if you can’t get someone who absolutely will play in the playoffs for him, then you’re better off holding onto him and seeing if you can develop him into a rotation player.

Getting Washington for him, however, would be a home run. Washington fills an area of need and is still controllable like Nwora is. That being said, I don’t think (as does Nehm) that this is a package that would entice the Hornets enough to move Washington.

While he’s playing fewer minutes this season than in his first two seasons due to the breakout of Miles Bridges, he’s still a valuable floor spacer and switchable defender. The Hornets may look to move him because they’re at a point where they may not be able to pay everyone and will need to make roster decisions around who to keep and pay. Washington could be the odd man out.

But if a 23-year-old big wing such as Washington is on the trade market, there are likely to be better offers than Nwora and Hood out there. Perhaps they could find another package that could work, but unless Charlotte is enamored with Nwora, it’s unlikely that this would be a deal that would move them.

Additionally, Washington’s defensive value is more theoretical than actual at this point. He’s still a young player and doesn’t have the playoff reps under his belt yet and that could be a problem for a Bucks team that needs to win now.