Trade Idea Sends Kings Star to Wizards for Veteran Guard

While the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers duke it out in the NBA Finals, the Washington Wizards and the rest of the league's other 28 teams are forced to watch from their respective couches. It's a period of angst as everyone who fell short tries to reconvene and change course in their earlier-onset offseasons, especially for those lacking the same championship-driven direction as one of the conference representatives.

The Sacramento Kings have been as stuck at sea as any team in the association for the last four months, selling out on their dreams of making the playoffs in trading franchise cornerstone De'Aaron Fox for Zach LaVine at the February deadline. They're now as unbalanced as any team in the NBA, log-jammed with isolation scorers without any semblance of 3-point shooting or defense in the far-superior Western Conference.

Enter the Washington Wizards. Bleacher Report pitched their shaking things up in the offseason in dealing Marcus Smart, the veteran defender and distributor, in exchange for Kings star DeMar DeRozan and a future second-round pick.

The exchange, as Andy Bailey explains, would give the Wizards an asset to play with while soothing Sacramento's interests in ditching their lateral move of a free agent signing that was the DeRozan pickup.

While DeRozan could make an intriguing case for himself as a deadline steal in padding his stats on the rebuilding Wizards, such a move wouldn't make much sense for the Wizards for several reasons.

For one, the development-oriented Washington front office likely isn't interested in watching DeRozan soak up the shots that would otherwise go to young wings like Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George and whoever else they plan on bringing aboard at the sixth pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, while the lower-usage, defense-first Smart has already proven his value as a mentor for the up-and-comers on and off the court.

Former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart coaching up Jordan Poole.

(🎥 via @jacobstark_ ) pic.twitter.com/DKRUKfeyu2
— Greg Finberg (@GregFinberg) February 9, 2025

DeRozan also doesn't offer as much value around the league as his gaudy numbers would suggest, as fewer teams are as gripped by a ball-dominant scorer who doesn't offer noticable upside as a creator, floor-spacer or defender, especially one who's set to enter this upcoming season at 36 years old.

A 2026 second-round pick from Charlotte is something, but if the Wizards were to seriously dangle Smart on the trade block, they could fetch a similar return in draft capital alongside someone who can actually help their young core continue acclimating to the NBA.

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