Trae Young reaction and Wizards ceiling

“The Wizards are still an NBA team?”

This was the statement made by Jacob Gold on the afternoon of January eighth. Yes, the Washington Wizards somehow still exist and are still capable of signing a big-name player. Shams broke the news about Trae Young being traded for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert. The biggest thing that NBA fans are trying to wrap their heads around is, no picks?

The Washington Wizards are a lackluster 10-28 this season. This season has been a struggle. They had only won a single game throughout November. It's only a coincidence that it was against Trea Young’s Hawks. The Hawks sit in 9th place in a competitive Eastern Conference. They stand eight games above the Wizards.

To properly analyze this trade, we need to look at Trae Young’s performance over the past few seasons. Since 2021, Trea has been averaging around 25 points per game. He has only played ten games this season because of an MCL sprain, and he now has a quad contusion.

This trade now begs the question: What is the Wizards' ceiling? There is no doubt that the Wizards won the trade. They traded away an average of 19 points per game for 25 points per game without giving up any draft capital.

The Wizards' hopes for this year may be bleak, but their future could have fans excited. This is the first time the Wizards have had someone to build a team around since John Wall. Trea Young is going to allow GM Will Dawkins to use some of that draft capital that they retained and build a team to complement Trea Young’s skills.

The Wizards could have an exciting future ahead of them. However, this will be an actual test of how good a GM Will Dawkins is. From this point, the Wizards could go either way. For the district, they hope to have a competent basketball team again.

Jacob Gold is a second-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email JRG6474@psu.edu.