Former first-round pick gets traded for second time in two days

According to Charania, in return for Olynyk, Washington will acquire former first-rounders Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley, along with a 2026 second-round pick. That pick will be the last favorable of Dallas’, Philadelphia’s, and Oklahoma City’s second-rounders.

Olynyk, 34, spent last season with the Raptors and Pelicans. He was limited to 44 games (22 starts) for health reasons, but was solid when he played, averaging 8.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 20.3 minutes per game, with a strong shooting line of .500/.418/.769.

A forward/center who can stretch the floor (.371 career 3PT%), Olynyk will become part of a Spurs frontcourt led by Victor Wembanyama. San Antonio will also be incorporating another new center, Luke Kornet, who finalized a four-year, $40.7M deal with the team earlier this week.

Olynyk was just traded two days ago from New Orleans to Washington in the three-team deal that included CJ McCollum and Jordan Poole, but he wasn’t part of the Wizards’ long-term plans. He can be flipped immediately because his salary isn’t being aggregated with another player’s salary as part of this trade.

Branham and Wesley — who were drafted 20th and 25th, respectively, in 2022 — didn’t establish themselves as reliable rotation players during their three years in San Antonio, as their playing time declined each season. Still, they’re both just 22 years old, and Branham has shown some promise as a shooter (.405 3PT% last season), while Wesley has shown he’s a stout on-ball defender.

It’s unclear whether the duo will get a shot to make the team and earn rotation spots in Washington or whether the Wizards made the deal primarily for the second-round pick and the cap savings. Olynyk is on an expiring $13.45M contract in 2025-26, while Branham ($4.96M) and Wesley ($4.72M) will earn less than $10M total in the final year of their rookie deals.

The Wizards have a growing roster crunch they’ll have to address at some point in the coming weeks or months. As a result of this trade, they’ll have 15 players on guaranteed salaries, and that total doesn’t include Richaun Holmes (small partial guarantee), Justin Champagnie (non-guaranteed) or Anthony Gill, who is considered a strong candidate to re-sign with the club.

The Spurs, conversely, will have just 12 players under contract once the trade is official and will have plenty of flexibility below the luxury-tax line to fill out the three openings on the standard 15-man roster.