{"id":821803,"date":"2018-06-21T10:22:23","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T14:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=821803"},"modified":"2018-06-21T17:07:46","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T21:07:46","slug":"washington-wizards-will-trade-center-marcin-gortat-per-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/washington-wizards-will-trade-center-marcin-gortat-per-source\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Wizards will trade center Marcin Gortat, per source"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marcin Gortat\u2019s tenure with the Washington Wizards will be over after five seasons.\u00a0A source told Hoop District on Wednesday, the day before the 2018 NBA Draft, that they were “100% sure” that Gortat would be traded. At that time, three teams were at the forefront as possible landing spots: the Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Pelicans, and Los Angeles Clippers, all Western Conference teams.\u00a0Ben Standig of The Sports Capitol reported the likelihood of Gortat\u2019s departure on Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Phoenix holds the No. 1, 16, 31, and 59 overall picks, New Orleans holds the No. 51 overall pick, and Los Angeles holds the No. 12 and 13 overall picks. It is plausible that the Wizards move Gortat in a trade down situation from their current No. 15 overall pick, but that is still up in the air as Washington does not want to forfeit that valuable asset. It is likely that the deal is made during Thursday night’s draft festivities, but if things do not fall right, the Wizards may wait until later in the offseason.<\/p>\n

Having already been traded twice before in his career, Gortat was not surprised by this move and has been expecting it for some time, the potential move reached its climax with the developments over the past season. Moreover, given that the team’s core has been unable to get out of the second round, a change was needed, which Gortat understood would likely be him because he is the oldest.<\/p>\n

In the 2017-18 season, Gortat averaged just 8.4 points on 51.8 percent shooting and 7.6 rebounds in 25.3 minutes per game. All four of those averages were the lowest he has put up since his Orlando days of backing up, also recently traded (again), Dwight Howard nearly a decade ago. It is not surprising that Gortat\u2019s play took a bit of a tumble given his age, outdated bruising style of play, and reduced playing time, but it was ultimately his falling out with franchise point guard John Wall that did Gortat in.<\/p>\n

After a 122-119 victory over the Toronto Raptors on February 1 where Washington had 30 assists on 44 made field goals, Gortat sent out the below tweet that many, including Wall, perceived to be a shot at the team’s point guard who was out recovering from knee surgery. The Wizards were adapting without their best player with ball movement and extra passes, which led to initial success. Gortat maintained that he never meant the tweet as a dig at Wall, but in the court of public perception, he was guilty and a relationship that was once as solid as their pick and roll combination went up in flames.<\/p>\n

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Unbelievable win tonight ! Great "team" victory!<\/p>\n

— Marcin Gortat\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf1 (@MGortat) February 2, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n