Wizards Decided to Mann Up

The Washington Wizards made a trade, acquiring Tre Mann and a 2027 second-round pick for Cam Whitmore. Bryson Akins breaks down his thoughts on the deal. 

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All Wizards Talk is your go-to podcast for everything regarding the Washington Wizards. This show is hosted by beat writers Bryson Akins and Henry Brown of Wizards on SI, and Joshua Valdez of FanSided. They bring inside knowledge of the team, along with in-depth topics from press conferences and games. 

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Welcome back to another episode of All Wizards Talk. I'm one of your co hosts Bryce Nakins, and it's just me today. I wanted to stay joined alongside as always by, you know, whether that be Josh or Henry, or maybe even both of them, but Henry's at work right now. Uh Josh is covering the Mystics game right now, since he also writes about them. And so it's just me. Just give me for this one, for this kind of breaking news situation going on where the Wizards just acquired another backup guard, which we have talked about it all summer. If you have been following the Wizards, if you've been following the podcast, you'll know this has been a common, common topic of are the Wizards going to, you know, get a backup guard? What's going on here? What are they gonna do? Okay, they got their backup guard. It's train man, which isn't the best option in the world. It's not a bad option, but it's not a good option. It's kind of like in that middle spot where it's like, eh, you know, like if you're giving it a grade for, you know, who you just re-acquired, you're you're giving it a C grade. You pass, but it's not like you did anything superb. You know? Like you pass the class, congrats. C's get degrees, but you didn't do anything to stand out. That's what the trade looks like to me. Um, the details of the trade, uh it was part of the Peyton Watson deal. It was a five-team deal that included Cleveland. Uh, I think um, yeah, I can't remember all the teams involved. Uh, Max Struus to I can't tell um if it was the Clippers or Lakers that got Struus, but it was a five-team deal. Okay. And the Wizards were in part, you know, were involved in this to help free up some cap space for uh the Cavaliers who got Peyton Watson the deal, who then signed a I think it was a four-year $88 million deal, if I'm not mistaken, if I remember off the top of my head, um, I believe that's what it was. Yeah, four years, $88 million deal. He has that player option as well. Um, but we're not here to talk about Peyton Watson. We're here to talk about who and what the Wizards got in return. Okay. Uh the Cavs sent Trey Man and their 2027 second rounder from the Clippers and cash to the Wizards for Cam Whitmore. So the Cavs ended up getting Cam Whitmore. And part of this deal, the Wizards sent Julian Reese to the Denver Nuggets, who will then waive Julian Reese off his two-way deal. So not only do the Wizards still have an open roster spot, they now have an open two-way spot available to sign someone else. Reese was on a two-way deal. He signed it as part of, you know, end of the year last season as well. So now they freed up a two-way spot. And just being honest about my thoughts on Julian Reese, I thought, you know, like, is he a local guy? Yeah, that's great that they signed him to a two-week two-way deal last year, had him play a few games at the end of the season. Cool, let the hometown kid get some shine. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever. However, there were much better players this summer that, you know, they could have gotten on a two-way deal instead of Julian Reese. And he was outplayed by everyone in Summer League. So this felt like a move that was coming. Felt like a move that was destined for him. Just being honest about it. He was very lackluster in Summer League. All of us know, like all of us at the podcast, we were not impressed with what we saw by uh from him. He was supposed to be one of the better players on that roster. And in all honesty, he was probably the worst player on the roster in summer league, which is saying a lot. So, you know, best of luck to him wherever he ends up going. But this felt like it was a move that was coming, you know, for a few days now, you know, miles away, where it's like it kind of makes sense to move off Julian Reese. Um, and potentially what I think is going to happen and what seems most likely is Reese Beekman going to be signing to that two-way spot. That seems like the most likely situation. Reese Beakman signs to the two-way spot. Boom, you have him on roster. I was really impressed with what I saw from him in summer league, him or Trimble, but Trimble went back to college uh since he still had some eligibility there. So they didn't get Trimble, although I really wish that they would have done this move with Reese earlier so they could have kept Trimble, as I would have preferred Trimble over Beekman for the two-way spot, but Beekman is still a very, very good player to pick up there. Um, so yeah, there's that. And then Trey Man for Cam Whitmore essentially. Like I said, Trey Man, you know, he is a great offensive player. Very streaky. If he's not on, it's a hard watch. But if he's on, oh man, they're like, it's it's really hard to stop him. All right. It is it is extremely hard to stop Trey Man when he is feeling himself and he is on fire. All right, especially from distance. However, there are a lot of times he is not on fire that he's missing a lot of shots, that he's just taking a lot of shots to put him up because he has that sort of confidence. Think, you know, someone with the shooting confidence of Tristan Vuksevich as a guard. That's basically what Trey Man is as an offensive player. He has a confidence and he's had the games and moments to, you know, back that up, but he's very inconsistent, very streaky. He's a smaller guard as well, so you can't really play him late in a game because he's gonna get hunted on uh defense a lot. So teams will just go after him, score on him as much as possible. So it gets really hard to play him because of that. But if his offense is there, you have a really dangerous weapon in him. You you do. It's just a matter of making sure he is consistent, okay? Um, and the wizards, and this is uh came come from uh came from Shams as well. At the end of his report, he said that man feels a positional need as the Wizards have searched for an additional guard in recent weeks. So that gets me thinking of like who else were the Wizards sort of looking at? That's something that gets me, you know, kind of thinking that Shams said is like if they've been looking for an additional guard, who have they been looking at? Who have they been trying to get? Did they try to get Aaron Holiday before he went over to Europe? Were they trying to get Gabe Vincent? Uh, or maybe it was just, you know, like talking about Russell Westbrook before he retired. Maybe it maybe there's that. I don't know. It's really, really hard to kind of like decipher what he means by that. Um, talk on Cam Whitmore just real quick. Feel, feel, feel like I feel really bad for Whitmore. I do. He he had a rough start to the season, you know, learning you know the wizard system a little bit. Um, him and Keith butted head a few times, but it was more so Keith believing in him. And then, you know, the five games before he got injured. I really liked what I was seeing from Whitmore. I did. I thought I thought Whitmore was really, you know, shining a little bit in those five games before his injury. It's like, okay, there might be something going on here with Whitmore where he's a viable role player off the bench. There might be something. Then his injury gets him to sit out the entire season after that, and that is what really ruined his chances of being a role player for the Wizards off the bench for the next few seasons. That one injury. If that injury doesn't happen and he continues to play, Whitmore's probably still in a Wizards jersey. They might send out someone else or no one at all to get Trey Mann since they would have had the cap space to take on his contract and not go into luxury tax, and that fills up the last roster spot. And so that's like it's that injury. That injury really ruined Cam Whitmore's chances of being a wizard uh player for a you know pretty long time. I say long time, at least two to three more seasons. So I feel really bad about him for that. Hope he has a lot of success in Cleveland, hope he makes a name for himself, because I do think he has the goods if he can just stay healthy, and he has relatively been healthy for his career. It was just that blood clot really ruined his chances with Wizards. It it really did. And so, you know, best of luck to him for the rest of his NBA career. I I will be rooting for him no matter what. But Trey Man, like I said, you know, backup guard. It's what they needed. It is what they needed, so they at least got that. Other than that, I'm not like I said, I'm not necessarily impressed by it. Like I said, like it's one of those things, like I like I mentioned, you know, if I'm giving a grade for it, give you a C, like you pass, but you didn't do anything to stand out for me. Like, cool, like, you know, like congrats, you passed a class, but uh you didn't really put a lot of effort into it. Um I I also will say there's some other things to talk about with this. Like I said, there's still an open roster spot. DeBar DeRozan is still out there um, you know, for a potential contract. Um, I don't think that's as likely now, as they don't have as much, you know, cap space to standard of luxury tax, but they still have the full MLE. They still have the full mid-level exception. And I know I know some people are gonna be mad at me for even bringing that up. Like, you know, the Wizards aren't gonna be using the full mid-level exception. Why would you even consider that? You never know what a team's gonna do, especially when they're ready to start being good and start competing again in the Eastern Conference. You you truly never know. So maybe, maybe, maybe the Wizards do use the full MLE to offer DeMar DeRozan a one-year deal to come to the Wizards and this is his final year in the league. Who knows? Okay. The the trade also makes it where you know it's more likely for Denver to get DeMar now. Now, are are they still in the second apron? Yes. Can they only offer him a vet minimum? Yeah, even if they sign him, do they still have to fill up another roster spot? Yes. So I'd like it's I still find it extremely difficult for Denver to get DeMar when you have teams like Miami, for example, that are going to have a better team, I think, and better season than the Denver Nuggets that are interested in DeMar DeRozan. Uh, when you have the Wizards that can just naturally offer more money than the Denver Nuggets as well. So I still don't see it where like Denver's the front runner for DeMar. It's definitely more of a possibility now. Um, but overall for Denver side, it just didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I feel like if you're trading anyone this offseason, you're not trading Peyton Watson, who was arguably their you know, fourth or third best player last season. You're probably trying to trade Christian Brown, who has been very lackluster uh with his contract extension, $25 million a year. There are teams rebuilding and you know starting a tank that would take on that salary, so you then keep Peyton Watson and can then you know still shed a little bit of salary to go out and sign someone else. So for me, that didn't really make a lot of sense on Denver side, Cleveland side, it makes a whole lot of sense. They're gonna get back James Harden as well. That team is looking really good in Cleveland. You know, they might be, you know, they they might be right back at it as the fourth scene because of how many teams got better in the east. But that that team is looking very, very good. This Eastern Conference is very top-heavy. The top five or six teams are all gonna be spectacular going into the season. And the Wizards now have to find a way for themselves to kind of you know compete in that mix to, you know, in the play-in spot because one of these teams is going to be a play-in team. One of Philly, New York, Boston, um, Atlanta, Miami, and you know, Cleveland, and who else am I forgoting? The Pistons. One of those teams is a play-in team, which is crazy to think about. One of those teams will be in the play-in, and the Wizards might have to play them first game or you know, second game of the play-in if that's the case. Absolutely wild to think about that. All teams, if you put them in the Western Conference, they're a top four seed over there if you put them over there. They might they might be, you know, like the Sixers and Knicks, for example, they might be battling for the second or first seed in the Western Conference. Like that's that's how good the East is now. And the Wizards now all of a sudden have to find a way for themselves to put themselves in that mix. Trey Man isn't necessarily that move. They have a good team already. If you can get 65 healthy games, Anthony Davis, which is really hard to do now, but him being award eligible in a contract year, you're getting an MVP level of play from Anthony Davis. Trey Young, who's gonna give you 20 and 12 a night, which is gonna be fantastic. Alex Sarr, who's one of the most promising young big men in the league, already one of the best defensive centers in the league as well. Keyson George, probably the most overqualified fifth starter in the league as well. AJ DeBanza, a future face of the league, um, who had the potential to win multiple MVPs throughout his career on a deep bench with Balaku Abali, Will Riley, Trey Johnson, Justin Champagne, uh, DeAndre Ayton, Bub Carrington, Chris Middleton. Like the team is good. It's just it's almost like you would need just one more thing to potentially separate yourselves from the middle of the pack onto everything else. And is this me saying the Wizards, you know, aren't done? No, it's not me saying that whatsoever. I think the Wizards are necessarily done when it comes to trades this offseason, uh, unless they find themselves in the middle of like, you know, another multi-team trade where they just get, you know, draft capital, for example. I don't envision them, you know, sending out or trying to acquire another player via trade. Now, I have said in the past few days in articles, you know, and on the podcast, uh, in our group chat as well, when we discuss, you don't have to, you didn't have to acquire, you know, that backup guard through free agency. You could do it via trade. And they did just that. And, you know, it was the smart thing to do when you look at the guards that are left. It comes down to who would you rather have Trey Man or one of Aaron Haldaric Vincent? Even though none of them are like spectacular options, I still want Trey Man over those guys. I I still do. I take, you know, I take Trey Man nine out of ten times in that situation, unless you know you're getting like you know, Miami Heat gave Cave Vincent, for example. So just one of those things. Um, it's not necessarily a nothing burger deal. It should also be noted that Trey Man was a Will Dawkins draft pick when he was in OKC. So maybe that played a little bit of bias into uh Will going after Trey Mann in this trade. We'll see. But it's like I said, it's it's really interesting just looking at it. I'm I'm just trying to like you know look at more details for this for you guys. Just my full thoughts on it. It's just like I said, feel bad for Whitmore. I was really having hope for him. I thought those, you know, five games before he got injured, he was starting to look really good, put it together. I was like, man, like this is nice to see. Really hoping he pans out because the offensive talent is there. It was just the effort on defense. He was athletic enough to be a good defender. It's just, you know, that needed some improvement and finally was getting improved, and then he gets an injury. It's just really bad luck for him all around. Just really bad luck. Julian Reese, as much as he was a fan favorite, you know, by everyone because he's a local guy. Truth be told, you know, like this is a move that doesn't really hurt you and honestly probably helps you by then signing someone who I think is a better player and Reese Beekman to that two-way spot. Now, that's not confirmed it's gonna be Reese Beakman, it could be someone else that we haven't even you know thought about or discussed. Um, but it's most likely going to be Beakman. Like just looking at everything that's happened, he's already played the Wizard System in summer league. Um, and I've seen people online talk about how they really like um what he does uh uh you know on the court. So I think it's gonna be Beakman to that two-way spot. And then just discussing this last roster spot because even though this trade happened, they still have an open roster spot. I'm thinking it's gonna be Gill. I'm thinking they're gonna bring back Anthony Gill at this point, uh, especially if they don't get DeRozan. And I just don't think they're going to now. I think, you know, yesterday, if you asked me if they're gonna get DeRozan, I would have said I think they're the front runner. Um, it's never Miami now. I think it's definitely gonna be Miami with Denver and that mix a little bit. Although I just think for DeRozan's sake, it would be better for him to go to Miami because Miami is also trying to get Klay Thompson at the moment. That team finally has a bench. He's still gonna get a very good run over there, and he's gonna be a playoff team here in the Eastern Conference, make a little run. Um, whereas with Denver, it's just I don't I don't like what they got going on. The front office has looked horrible over there, and I think at this rate, they're going to be a play-in team in the Western Conference, even if they added to Rosen, which sucks for Nicole Jokic. That team is just wasting his prime right now. You won it in 2023, congrats. But after that, that team has just gotten worse and worse. They haven't done anything for him, nothing whatsoever. And I feel bad for the guy. Get him, get him some help. And so, but it was nice to see the Wizards make a move, get that backup guard, albeit, you know, it being Trey Man. Um, not a bad player, but not a great player. All right, just average. Okay, when he's on, he's on. When he's off, it's very hard to watch that. So we'll see if there's any other moves that they're making. But just a quick little impromptu uh episode for you guys here. And I will catch you all in the next one with one of Josh Henry, maybe all three of us, and we'll catch you guys in the next episode. Peace.