Wizards Need Veteran to Boost Trade Value

The Washington Wizards may not be contenders this season, but they will be an exciting young team to watch. With players like Tre Johnson, Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly and Bub Carrington, the youthful squad should show flashes of being great. On top of this, they have some veterans who should help develop this young talent into contenders in the future. One veteran, though, has some expectations set to fill the void Wizards fans have been missing since Bradley Beal.

CJ McCollum is an interesting player on this squad. He is usually a player many contending teams want as their third option. For the Wizards, he will more than likely be the first option. This is not great news, especially for players like Johnson and Sarr, who need more offensive reps. This is a good thing for Will Dawkins and the front office, however.

McCollum is an offensive supercell, capable of getting any team 20 points a night. The expectation for McCollum, though, is to average near 25 points in Washington. He is the best scoring option on the team for now. Once Johnson shows some confidence during his rookie season, that should be a signal for McCollum to be traded.

Shooting-wise, he needs to shoot at least 40 percent from behind the arc. McCollum needs to be able to show that he is still a great shooter in his 13th NBA season. There are contenders still looking for that final scoring threat to become contenders. Teams that could be interested are the Golden State Warriors, as they try to move on from Jonathan Kuminga, and maybe even the Milwaukee Bucks, as former Wizard Kyle Kuzma has not worked out as well as they had hoped.

If McCollum can still be this shooting threat, Dawkins should be able to command a first-round pick or two in return. The Wizards do not need any more young talent, as Johnson should become the face of the franchise. If they can get a young player in return, though, that is just an added cherry on top of the cake. As mentioned, Kuminga would not be a bad player to target in a trade.

Defensively, McCollum just needs to show he is not a weak point on the perimeter. He does not need to average a ton of steals, but he should not have a high blow-by rate either. The aspect of his game that is the most important is offense, so the Wizards should give him as many looks as possible in the first 25 games.

My expectations for McCollum are for him to average the most points of his career to start the year for Washington, then get traded in December or January to a team trying to contend. The best option right now would be Golden State, as they look for a third option and try to get rid of Kuminga. This should then open a pathway for Johnson to be the first option in the second half of the season. The expectations are for McCollum just to drive his trade value through the roof, and that is the best way he can help out this young squad.