The Wizards trade Kristaps Porzingis to the Celtics for salary filler and draft compensation, according to report

Per The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Washington Wizards, Boston Celtics, and Los Angeles Clippers are nearing completion on a deal that would send Kristaps Porzingis to the Celtics. The Wizards would receive the 30th pick in tomorrow’s draft and salary filler in return. The Clippers would get Malcolm Brogdon.

It’s unclear still exactly which players the Wizards would get back but none are likely to fit heavily into their long-term plans. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Wizards would receive Marcus Morris, Danilo Gallinari, and Amir Coffey. Coffey is the only one of those three young enough to be at all intriguing in a rebuild.

The 30th pick is the real prized return here. Santa Clara’s Brandin Podziemski, Pepperdine’s Max Lewis, Houston’s Marcus Sasser, South Carolina’s GG Jackson, Xavier’s Colby Jones, UCLA’s Amari Bailey, and Tennessee’s Julian Phillips are all players likely to go in that general range of the draft that I would keep an eye on if I were the Wizards’ new front office.

For more information on the players in this range of the draft, Kevin Broom and I discussed several of the aforementioned names in great detail on today’s Bleav in Wizards podcast.

Unrelated to the 30th pick, ESPN’s latest mock draft included intel that Michigan’s Kobe Bufkin has “internal support in the Washington front office and could feasibly be the choice here if they decide to prioritize guards.” They did also say that this scenario is more likely if Arkansas’s Anthony Black is off the board.

The timing is interesting as around the same time, I had two independent friends in the draft community tell me they were “hearing Bufkin at 8.” One of those texts came in about thirty minutes before the ESPN reporting was published, the other right around the same time. You never know what’s a smokescreen or not at this point in the process but all I’m saying is, don’t be shocked if you hear the name Kobe Bufkin tomorrow when the Wizards make their pick.

If you’re looking for Wizards-specific coverage on draft night, myself, Kevin, and Domo from the Wizards of Gallery Place podcast will be hosting a live draft show running in parallel with the actual broadcast.

We’ll be providing real-time analysis as it relates to the Wizards, as an alternative to the more general draft coverage you can get elsewhere. We will be starting at 8 p.m. EST and the show can be livestreamed from the Bleav in Wizards Twitter account (@BleavinWizards) and YouTube page.

We’re doing this as a way to raise money for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. If you’d like to contribute to a great cause, you can do so here.