Trail Blazers Acquire Deni Avdija From Wizards For Malcolm Brogdon, Bub Carrington

Keith Smith
Keith Smith, Resident NBA ExpertJune 27, 2024
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#nba #trade #deni avdija #malcolm brogdon #bub carrington #washington wizards #portland trail blazers
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The Portland Trail Blazers and Washington Wizards don’t really scream traditional trade partners, as both are rebuilding teams. But Portland needed to get out of the tax and needed a forward. Washington has room under the tax and needed a point guard. Thus, a trade was born.

Here are the particulars:

Portland Trail Blazers acquire: Deni Avdija

Washington Wizards acquire: Malcolm Brogdon, draft rights to Carlton Carrington, 2029 first-round pick (second-most favorable of Boston, Milwaukee and Portland), two future second-round picks

Let’s dive in!

(Note: We are analyzing this deal as it has been reported. If the trade is adjusted to include additional players or teams, we’ll adjust the analysis.)

Portland Trail Blazers

Incoming salary: $15.6 million in 2024-25

  • Deni Avdija (SF, four years, $55 million)

Outgoing salary: $22.5 million in 2024-25

  • Malcolm Brogdon (PG, one year, $22.5 million)

Portland is a rebuilding team. And a bad rebuilding team, at that. Because of that, the Trail Blazers could not stay over the luxury tax line.

When the Blazers made their moves last summer (trading Damian Lillard, re-trading Jrue Holiday), they had to take on some money in those trades. It was too close to the season to find a partner to dump any unwanted salary to. And some of that salary carried for multiple years.

Before this trade, Portland was looking at being a luxury tax team. That’s untenable for a team that won 21 games a year ago and doesn’t project to be a whole lot better this upcoming season.

This trade accomplished getting the Blazers out of the tax. In addition, Portland acquired a pretty good player in Deni Avdija too.

It went unnoticed by many, because he was toiling on a bad team, but Avdija put together his best NBA season last year. And it wasn’t particularly close, either. The really good news? Avdija did this after signing a team-friendly extension, so this wasn’t some sort of a contract push.

Avdija averaged 14.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists. All were career-highs by a good margin. He also put up 51/37/74 shooting splits, which were also the best marks of his career.

As for his contract, Avdija signed a four-year, $55 million extension last offseason. That deal starts this upcoming season at $15.6 million and declines year-to-year, finishing at $11.9 million in 2027-28. That will be a boon while the Blazers rebuild. One word of caution: If Avdija really pops, it will be very hard, if not impossible, to extend him. Making so little in his final year could make it hard to reach a deal that makes sense for both sides. But that’s a problem to worry about another day.

Portland has a bunch of guards and some bigs. What they don’t have is a lot of proven talent on the forward line, especially not in players that are expected to be around for the long-run. Avdija gives them a 23-year-old versatile wing that can be a part of the future.

It also feels like this is just the start of a busy offseason for Portland. After swinging the Damian Lillard trade so late last offseason, Joe Cronin has a chance to really do some things this summer. The Trail Blazers drafted Donovan Clingan, and he’s going to be their long-term guy at center. That’ll put both Deandre Ayton and Robert Williams III on the trade block. The Blazers are also listening to offers for Jerami Grant. And there’s a chance Anfernee Simons and Matisse Thybulle could be moved too.

This is a good first step for Portland to rebalance their roster and cap sheet, even if it did come at the cost of trading away a couple of extra first-round picks.

Washington Wizards

Incoming salary: $22.5 million in 2024-25

  • Malcolm Brogdon (PG, one year, $22.5 million)

Outgoing salary: $15.6 million in 2024-25

  • Deni Avdija (SF, four years, $55 million)

Like the Trail Blazers, the Wizards are just getting started with their rebuild. They also took on some long-term money last summer, but they were able to stay well clear of the tax. In this trade, Washington got some additional draft capital, while also getting a stopgap point guard for the upcoming season.

Malcolm Brogdon might want to rent vs buying in DC. He may not be there long. Washington is in the midst of flipping their roster. They need a point guard, because Tyus Jones is a free agent and may or may not be back. Brogdon can start or come off the bench. But most likely, he’ll be moved in a subsequent deal to a guard-needy team.

The real gets in this trade for Washington were the draft pick that became Carlton “Bub” Carrington, as well as picking up an additional first-round pick and a couple of second-round picks.

Carrington will step in as a rotation guy pretty quickly as a rookie. He’s not a great shooter, but there’s signs that will improve with time. Carrington is hard-nosed and can defend. He’s a developing playmaker, and he can score. Initially, look for Carrington to play as a combo guard off the bench, but the long-term plan may be to turn him into a point guard.

Avdija is a player the Wizards liked a lot. Washington simply has other guys on the forward line. Kyle Kuzma is still in Washington (for now, at least) and Bilal Coulibaly may end up being more of a forward vs a true wing. Corey Kispert also overlaps with Avdija a little bit too. That made moving Avdija trading from a position of relative strength.

Mostly, Washington traded a nice, but non-star player to get back a veteran guard they can flip, along with some draft picks. They already tabbed one nice player in Carrington. There’s more to come, but the Wizards rebuild is off to a pretty good start.

 


#nba #trade #deni avdija #malcolm brogdon #bub carrington #washington wizards #portland trail blazers
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