Analyzing the Marcin Gortat trade

What a shocker. Not that Marcin got traded, I fully expected that but the return we got wasn’t just fill-ins or cash considerations, the Wizards fixed one of the holes in their team while getting rid of a player who had a bad relationship with the organization at the same time. Regardless of how you feel about Ernie, this is a good trade that had to be made for the Wizards to try to take the next step next season. I am fully aware that we are still in desperate need of an athletic big man but I feel a lot better about acquiring one now that Gortat got moved as there is no way any playoff team should start the season with Ian Mahimni and Jason Smith as their two centers in the depth chart. Now, let’s take a deeper look into this trade to see what both teams got and who ultimately won the trade.

The Clippers acquired Marcin Gortat who will give the Clippers a starting center should DeAndre Jordan opt out of his $24.1 million contract before Friday’s deadline. Even if Jordan does opt in, the chances he remains a Clipper are very slim and I can’t see a scenario where he actually decides to stay and play out the final year of his contract. LA needed a starting-caliber big man for next season and Marcin should be able to give them that.

The Wizards got a backup shooting guard for Bradley Beal which I’ve been saying all along that a backup guard was just as important as acquiring an athletic big man as the Wizards have a history of backup guards not working out. Brandon Jennings, Trey Burke, Bojan Bogdanovic as well as many others that didn’t work out in the past. It also seems to be a trend that the Wizards usually burn out one of the starters in the backcourt due to lack of depth. During the 2017 playoffs, John Wall was burned out because we didn’t have a backup point guard that worked out which required him to play 40+ minutes per game. Last season, Bradley Beal was the victim as there was no backup shooting guard for him which resulted in Beal playing 45 minutes a game during the time John Wall was injured and during the playoffs, it looked like all of the heavy lifting he did during the season affected Beal and his ability to contribute during the postseason.

This is where Austin Rivers comes in and helps out as Beal will finally have someone who has played starter minutes in the past to come in for him and make a solid impact. Austin averaged 15.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and shot 42.4% from the field in 34 minutes of play which aren’t terrific numbers but it’s good to have a player that played starter minutes in the past to be on the bench so that Rivers can give the team a spark when they need it and Beal won’t have to play 40 minutes a game like he was doing last season.

I’d have to say the Wizards. I know the Clippers got a big man to replace DeAndre Jordan but in my opinion, Gortat only does well when he has a great point guard that can see the whole court and can spoon feed him easy buckets like John Wall had been doing over the past five seasons and like Steve Nash had been doing before John. I have yet to see if Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can be that kind of point guard in the NBA but if he can be a player that can see the floor and develop a good relationship on and off the court with Gortat, this trade won’t entirely be a huge loss for the Clippers. To summarize, the Wizards won the trade but I don’t think the Clippers completely lost this trade as Gortat could still be a solid contributor even entering his age-34 season. I wish nothing but the best of luck to Marcin as he enters his tenure with the Clippers as despite all the negativity he got, he was still a solid player during his time here in DC. I also want to give a very warm welcome to our newest member of the Wizards, Austin Rivers.

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