The Wishful Wizards

5/28/2019

The Washington Wizards front office has taken an interest in the young point-guard Lonzo Ball. This is intriguing news looking at the Wizards, their roster, and their franchise star John Wall. The Wizards are seeking to trade all-star shooting guard Bradley Beal in exchange for the young point guard. In doing so, this move would of course, come with more than just Lonzo; it is more than likely to coincide with the Lakers fourth overall pick in the upcoming NBA draft.

Moving a valuable piece such as Beal and the three point shooting he provides, this ball club will be a game changing move to say the least. For the Lakers, it will provide a consistent threat from the three point line. This is pretty much what LeBron needs and is what he is usually used to; being able to drive the ball into the paint. In doing so, attracting the defense causing them to swarm towards him, get their attention then being able to kick it out to a deep threat and having his three point shooters knockdown a three. LeBron has done this in the past with the help of Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, as well as J. R. Smith who are all consistent three point shooters. For the Wizards however, with this trade they would then have two point guards that aren’t consistent at all from the three and mainly rely on dishing the ball to an open teammate and driving the ball. It would be very difficult to find a way to mesh the two and the talents they bring in a productive scheme on offense.

It would be interesting to see how they would play the two guards. Will they have them both starting and have one play the two guard or rather have Wall starting and bringing Lonzo off the bench for when Wall gets tired? Now, with all the negatives out of the way, there is a bright side and some optimism with this trade though pretty slight in comparison to the cons. The franchise could bring in Lonzo and Wall could take him under his wing, help him digest the team’s scheme, and help the team embrace him fully. In doing so, teaching him the things he knows about the game and how he plays.

With Wall being hurt, Lonzo would probably begin the season on the starting lineup and run the team at the helm as point guard. This is when Wall could start mentoring Lonzo and have him run the team the way he does when he steps on the court. For example, when Wall is running the offense through him, the tempo is up beat which leads to fast pace and fast break opportunities that he and his team like to take advantage of. This is actually right up Lonzo’s alley. So with that being said, it could intrinsically work out in both teams’ cases, but I am very curious to find out what both franchises decide to do with their talented guards.