{"id":551905,"date":"2026-01-21T22:47:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T22:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/551905\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T22:47:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T22:47:41","slug":"wizards-rumors-zion-kuminga-salary-dumps-middleton-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/551905\/","title":{"rendered":"Wizards Rumors: Zion, Kuminga, Salary Dumps, Middleton, More"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wizards\u2018 trades for Cam Whitmore<\/a> last summer and Trae Young<\/a> earlier this month exhibit the front office\u2019s willingness to roll the dice on high-upside players in need of a change of scenery, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic<\/a>, who hears from league sources that Washington will likely be keeping an eye out for similar opportunities at this season\u2019s trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Multiple sources who spoke to Robbins identified Pelicans forward Zion Williamson<\/a> as one player who fits that bill. While New Orleans has reportedly told rival teams<\/a> that Williamson won\u2019t be traded this season, people around the league are skeptical that the former No. 1 overall pick is truly off limits, Robbins explains.<\/p>\n

According to Robbins, the general consensus is that the Wizards wouldn\u2019t give up their most valuable assets \u2013 including any of their own first-round picks \u2013 for a player like Williamson, but their \u201cleast favorable\u201d 2026 first-rounder (which will likely be Oklahoma City\u2019s pick) could hold some appeal to the Pelicans.<\/p>\n

Robbins stresses that a Wizards trade for Williamson is a long shot and that the idea is mostly based on speculation, but he notes that the Pelicans forward was mentioned by several of the sources he talked to. Another player who fits into the same \u201cdistressed asset\u201d category would be Jonathan Kuminga<\/a>, Robbins adds, though multiple recent<\/a> reports<\/a> suggested Washington may not be among the most serious suitors for the Warriors forward.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more on the Wizards:<\/p>\n

Although the Wizards will monitor the market for another buy-low opportunity like the one for Young, they\u2019re more likely to operate as a \u201cdumping ground for assets\u201d at the deadline, Robbins writes. In other words, Washington \u2013 which is operating roughly $30MM below the luxury tax line \u2013 would be willing to take on unwanted multiyear contracts if they come attached to young players or draft picks.
\nRobbins points to Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley<\/a> ($32.5MM cap hit this season) and Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant<\/a> ($32MM) as a couple examples of players with long-term contracts that their respective teams are looking to move off of. Quickley has three seasons on his deal beyond this one, while Grant has two more (one guaranteed year plus a player option). However, the sense is that neither Toronto nor Portland wants long-term salary relief badly enough to send out draft assets with Quickley or Grant in exchange for Khris Middleton<\/a>\u2018s $33MM expiring contract. The Raptors and Blazers would prefer to use those contracts in deals that actually upgrade their rosters, per Robbins. \u201cI think any smart front office would first obviously use those salaries to get better,\u201d one rival team official told The Athletic.
\nMost league sources who spoke to Robbins believe the most likely outcome with Middleton is that he remains in D.C. through the trade deadline and then emerges as a buyout candidate.
\nAccording to Robbins, the Wizards will be reluctant to make a trade that would interfere with the development of any of their most important young players, such as big man Alex Sarr<\/a>, forward Kyshawn George<\/a>, guards Tre Johnson<\/a> and Bub Carrington<\/a>, and wing Bilal Coulibaly<\/a>. However, Washington has no obvious long-term answer at power forward and should be more open to pursuing players at that position.
\nAssuming they don\u2019t acquire this sort of player at the trade deadline, the Wizards are expected to explore the free agent market during the offseason for a big man who can improve the club\u2019s defensive rebounding and provides more rim protection, Robbins reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wizards\u2018 trades for Cam Whitmore last summer and Trae Young earlier this month exhibit the front office\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3780],"tags":[979,7,1257,2644,3715,5673,867,2039,6333,6,952,682,468,3892,683,814],"class_list":{"0":"post-551905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-wizards","8":"tag-alex-sarr","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-bilal-coulibaly","11":"tag-bub-carrington","12":"tag-immanuel-quickley","13":"tag-jerami-grant","14":"tag-jonathan-kuminga","15":"tag-khris-middleton","16":"tag-kyshawn-george","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-tre-johnson","19":"tag-washington","20":"tag-washington-wizards","21":"tag-washingtonwizards","22":"tag-wizards","23":"tag-zion-williamson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115935526937726705","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}