{"id":558351,"date":"2026-01-24T19:31:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T19:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/558351\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T19:31:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T19:31:18","slug":"wizards-president-stands-firm-on-2024-trade-not-a-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/558351\/","title":{"rendered":"Wizards President Stands Firm On 2024 Trade: ‘Not A Mistake’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Wizards have finally begun turning a corner into a new era<\/a> of competitive basketball. Several trades<\/a>, drafts, and signings after their last playoff appearance, Washington finally can see the light at the end of the tunnel. That said, some moves may have made the rebuild take a little longer. One, in particular, has aged extremely poorly; however, Monumental Basketball and Wizards President Michael Winger still believes it was the right call.<\/p>\n

Wizards President Stands Firm On 2024 Trade: \u2018Not A Mistake\u2019<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s rewind just a few seasons, to the offseason of 2024. The Wizards were coming off one of, if not the worst, seasons in franchise and league history. There were a few bright spots, but none stood out the way Deni Avdija<\/a> did. He averaged career numbers: 14.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.8 assists over his 75 appearances during the season. Avdija was the best young player on the roster and looked poised to become a focal point in the Wizards\u2019 offense the following season.<\/p>\n

However, leading up to the 2024 NBA Draft, Avdija would be sent<\/a> to the Portland Trail Blazers in a shocking move. Washington would get a haul for him: Malcolm Brogdon<\/a>, the 14th pick in the draft (which turned into Bub Carrington<\/a>), and a 2029 first-round pick, along with 2028 and 2030 second-round picks as well.<\/p>\n

In retrospect, drafting Carrington was great; however, Washington lost this trade by miles. Avdija is having (yet another) career season and will be remembered as the one that got away.<\/p>\n

Avdija\u2019s Ascension<\/p>\n

Avdija has put the league on notice this season. Not only is he having a career year, but he\u2019s on pace for his first All-Star appearance<\/a> and should be up for several awards at the end of the campaign. Through 42 games this season, he\u2019s averaged 26 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 6.9 assists while giving Portland a chance<\/a> to compete in the postseason this year.<\/p>\n

This looks terrible for Washington. However, Winger doesn\u2019t seem to think much of it. In a recent press conference, Winger was asked about the Avdija trade<\/a> and was very quick to defend the front office\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it was not a mistake. I\u2019m very, very happy for Deni. We\u2019re all very happy for Deni. We saw Deni as a very high-level ascending player. Super happy for him, super happy for the Blazers. We\u2019ve got a lot of friends there with the Blazers. But no, because we did it, we did it for the reasons we said then. Which is, in effect, take us back a couple years so that we could reset the roster and everybody was sort of the same age curve and Deni\u2019s ahead of that curve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is it true? Does the front office really not view it as a mistake? Subjectively, this can\u2019t be true. Just to push this as a false narrative, let\u2019s look at some recent moves to prove Winger may have some regrets.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll Sales Are Final\u201d<\/p>\n

The roster is tied for the youngest in the league (23.8 years old). While on the surface, Winger\u2019s statement does ring true to a degree, Washington\u2019s recent moves don\u2019t exactly line up with that. Avdija just turned 25-years-old, which would put him on the older side of the core.<\/p>\n

However, Justin Champagnie<\/a> and Jamir Watkins<\/a> are both 24. Kyshawn George<\/a> is 22, making him on the older side as well in just his second year in the league<\/a>. Even their newest addition<\/a>, Trae Young<\/a>, is 27, making him almost three years older than Avdija.<\/p>\n

The experience this roster could have while being so young is groundbreaking. Avdija is now in his sixth season in the league, leading a postseason-hopeful roster. He may not have turned into an All-Star in D.C, but the Wizards didn\u2019t give him a chance. There is some serious coping going on in the Wizards\u2019 front office. Unfortunately, he may turn into one of the biggest \u201cwhat-ifs\u201d in franchise history.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Soobum Im-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington Wizards have finally begun turning a corner into a new era of competitive basketball. Several trades,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3780],"tags":[7,2644,980,3531,10683,6333,6,494,682,468,3892,683],"class_list":{"0":"post-558351","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-wizards","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bub-carrington","10":"tag-deni-avdija","11":"tag-jamir-watkins","12":"tag-justin-champagnie","13":"tag-kyshawn-george","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-trae-young","16":"tag-washington","17":"tag-washington-wizards","18":"tag-washingtonwizards","19":"tag-wizards"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115951742789788268","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558351","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=558351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}