In a recent episode of ESPN's "The Hoop Collective Podcast," Tim MacMahon and Tim Bontemps spoke about the possibility of the Washington Wizards trading the No. 1 pick in this year's draft (potentially to the Utah Jazz, who currently own the No. 2 pick and likely want to keep BYU's AJ Dybantsa in the state) and just getting another top prospect (Cameron Boozer, Darryn Peterson, Caleb Wilson).
If this sounds familiar, Boston Celtics faithful, it's because the team has pulled this move twice, both times to perfection.
Boston traded the No. 1 overall pick in 1980 to the Golden State Warriors (who later selected Joe Barry Carroll) for Robert Parish and the No. 3 pick (later became Kevin McHale. And in 2017, then Celtics GM Danny Ainge did the exact same thing, trading the first pick to the Philadelphia 76ers (Markelle Fultz) for the third pick (Jayson Tatum -- they also landed a first-round pick in 2019, which ended up being Romeo Langford... we don't need to talk about that).
The Wizards may follow the Celtics' blueprint before the 2026 draft
If there was ever a year for another team to move down a few spots from the No. 1 pick in the draft, it's this one. There isn't a clear-cut No. 1 guy (though many people, including myself, would give that title to Dybantsa), and even if Washington were to move down to say, the fourth spot, it would still walk away with a potential All-NBA player.
So to be able to do that and get some other big assets for the future could be a huge development for a Wizards team that is already likely on its way up the Eastern Conference rankings.
This obviously worked out well for Boston both times. Parish and McHale are both Basketball Hall of Famers and Celtics legends. Without either of them, the Larry Bird Era dynasty doesn't exist. And while Tatum's time in Boston is probably far from over, he is already a franchise legend, helping the team win its 18th title just a couple of years ago and likely being a future Hall of Famer.
(We can just ignore the Langford part of all of that. Solid player at times, but he just never lived up to his high school/college hype. Though it is important to mention that he was part of the 2022 trade that sent Derrick White to Boston, so maybe this was a win after all.)
It remains to be seen if the Wizards will pull off this type of move (and, even if they do, we won't know if it was the right call for at least a few years), but this is already a team worth monitoring moving forward. Making a move like this could be exactly what they need to do to move up another tier for the long haul.
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