As pointed out by Deadspin.com:
The Wizards, of course, engage in more bad business per season than most other NBA franchises do in a decade.
Trading second-round picks is the least of it, but anyway it’s a go-to move of their cottage cheese-brained general manager.
They traded all their picks in both the 2016 and 2017 NBA drafts; they traded their first-round pick in the 2014 draft and sold their second-round pick to the Lakers; they dumped two second round picks in the 2013 draft.
In all, by the time 2024 rolls around they will have used 10 second-round picks in twelve years to draft zero players.
Fred Katz of The Athletic asked Wizards general manager Ernie Grunfeld about this reckless and short-sighted habit of discarding picks, and Grunfeld’s answer is, well, see for yourself:
“I’d say having the G League has something to do with it. We’ve gotten some good players from there. We’ve picked up Thomas Bryant off waivers, who’s better than most second-round picks you can get. I think Jordan McRae has done some good things for us. Chasson Randle,” he said. “We’ve never had a G League team before. And it was quite a bit of savings. By giving up the second-round pick, we saved a substantial amount of money, and we can use that money to buy a second-round pick if someone is available that we like. Second-round picks, as you know, during the draft are always being bought and sold. So, it gives us more flexibility from a financial standpoint to buy one if we see someone that we like.”
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