FanPost

Deal of the Day: The Wizards draft Aleksej Pokusevski after trading down their first round pick

Photo by Panagiotis Moschandreou/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Editor's Note: Piece was originally published on Tuesday, right before midnight, which is why you may be seeing a Wednesday publish date. -- Albert

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Tuesdays are Terrible here at Deal of the Day, an exercise in NBA deal making and a sanity check for yours truly as we wait for the NBA Draft. Each day I'll post a trade idea that I think helps the Wizards. No trade is too small, no trade is too big… but I only have so many 4+ team trades in me, I swear. Move up in the draft? Yessir. Move back? For sure-for sure. All trades run through TradeNBA.com simulator. Salary cap rules may be bent but hopefully not broken.

Today's Deal of the Day: The Mavericks acquire the Wizards' No. 9 draft pick

The Dallas Mavericks make a big move up trading #18, #31 and point guard Jalen Brunson to the Washington Wizards for their first round pick, #9 overall.

In my most recent mock draft the Wizards selected Devin Vassell at #9. Dallas selected Isaiah Stewart at #18 and Jahmi'us Ramsey at #31.

Why the Mavericks do the deal?

The Mavs, after an exciting playoff run, have the hots for the perfect Luka Doncic complement. In this scenario they are enamored with Devin Vassell and know they can't expect him at 18. They agree to the deal IF Devin Vassell is there at 9. The other target worth moving up for would be Patrick Williams.

Why the Wizards do the deal?

All of the trade down proposals I post are predicated on the assumption that the Wizards don’t have enough assets to assemble a roster better than say 7th or 8th in the East. They’ll operate as a team over the cap this offseason. Their available exceptions only go so far.

As the last Deal pointed out, the Wizards reportedly like 10-15 players at the top of the draft. So how do they end up at 18? They could just keep Vassell at 9. In this case Tommy knows his guy but can't take him at 9, just can't pull the trigger. Donnie Nelson makes his dream come true by offering 18, a highly valuable pick in #31 and Jalen Brunson.

With the 18th pick the Wizards select Aleksej Pokusevski, F, Olympicacos B.Tommy Sheppard can't quite sell Pokusevski (or Poku) at 9 but at 18? Could be the steal of the draft. I had Poku rated as high as 8 to the Bulls before the lottery. He could go anywhere at this point. 7 footer with guard skills, including his jump shot. He's just so painfully thin and YOUNG. I would hope they can stash him for at least a year.

#31 is one of the most valuable picks since second rounders aren't guaranteed money. The top international talent would rather go 31 than 24. This becomes the most likely pick for the Wizards to flip for more assets. We don't have that kind of time here at the Deal so with the 31st pick in the draft the Wizards select F/C Zeke Nnaji out of Arizona (Bear Down).The team knows they need to get bouncier inside. Nnaji has good hands, can finish around the rim, runs like a deer, with a high work ethic. Thats what he needs to overcome his current shortfalls defensively. Yep, the Wizards took a big that needs to develop defensively. He's not a natural rim protector. He's still getting up to speed collegiately so the Pros are going to be a challenge. If you're taking the challenge its because he has the tools and like Poku is young for the draft.

With the 37th pick they take Kentucky guard and SEC Player of the Year, Immanuel Quickly. IQ is the lights out combo guard shooter (43% from 3) we've been waiting for. His 6'10 wingspan will help him guard at the NBA level. He's not a PG but that makes him perfect for playing off of Troy Brown Jr. He can be an off ball shooter with Bradley Beal or John Wall running the offense too. He has to be accounted for coming off screens.

Then there's Brunson, still a work in progress. Another high caliber player that can run a team when Wall needs his load managed.

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-Want to request a trade target? Email me at Jheiser3 (at) gmail.com and include your Bullets Forever screen name.

-Want to send in a challenge, something tricky? Email me at Jheiser (at) gmail.com and include your Bullets Forever screen name.

This represents the view of the user who wrote the FanPost, and not the entire Bullets Forever community. We're a place of many opinions, not just one.