The Washington Wizards woke up Friday with one obvious hole on the roster. By the afternoon, they filled it without giving up anything that’ll hurt them down the road.
Washington landed veteran big man Deandre Ayton from the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for guard Jaden Hardy and a pair of second-round picks in 2031 and 2032. Ayton, 27, is on an expiring deal worth $8.1 million next season. Hardy will make $6 million with a $6 million club option for the following year.
This is the kind of move that doesn’t move the needle for headlines but makes a real difference in April. The Wizards needed a reliable backup center behind Alex Sarr, and they got one.
Ayton started all 72 games he played for the Lakers during the 2025-26 regular season and all 10 playoff games. The 7-footer averaged 12.5 points on 67.1 percent shooting with 8 rebounds and 1 block in 27.2 minutes. He finished 19th in the league in rebounds and second in field goal percentage. Those are solid numbers for a guy who’ll come off the bench in Washington.
Hardy landed in Washington at the trade deadline earlier this year as part of the Anthony Davis deal with Dallas. The 23-year-old put up 12.6 points on 44.3 percent shooting in 23 games after the trade, including 42 percent from three. But the Wizards have a crowded guard rotation with Trae Young, Tre Johnson, Jamir Watkins, Kyshawn George, Bilal Coulibaly, Will Riley and AJ Dybantsa all competing for minutes. Hardy simply didn’t have a clear path to playing time.
Before this deal, the backup center minutes were going to Tristan Vukcevic, a 2023 second-rounder who struggled defensively. Vukcevic ranked seventh-worst among forwards in defensive field goal percentage last season at 51.7 percent, per NBA Advanced Stats. That’s not going to cut it on a team trying to make real noise.
Ayton is not an All-Defensive guy, but he held opponents to 48.3 percent shooting in the regular season and 44 percent in the playoffs. He’ll back up Sarr, who averaged 2.8 stocks per game last season and posted a 49.4 percent defensive clip in his second year.
The Wizards can also slide Anthony Davis to power forward and start Ayton at center when they want to go big. Or they can start Dybantsa at the four and keep Sarr and Davis as the frontcourt. Either way, Ayton gives them options they didn’t have before.
This is a textbook B-plus move. Washington didn’t sacrifice any valuable assets to fill its biggest need with a guy on an expiring deal. If it doesn’t work out, the cap sheet stays clean. If it works, they got a productive veteran for spare parts.
Ayton hasn’t lived up to the No. 1 overall pick label from 2018, but that doesn’t matter here. The Wizards have their long-term starter in Sarr and an elite short-term option in Davis. They just need Ayton to be a credible backup. He’s coming off a healthy season. For his career, he averages 15.8 points on 59.9 percent shooting with 10.1 rebounds and 1 block in 30.3 minutes across 470 games. If he rebounds, protects the rim and finishes plays around the basket, this is a win.
There’s also the Trae Young connection. Ayton and Young have history with alley-oops from their time together in Atlanta, and that chemistry should carry over. Expect a few of those lobs in transition this season.
The Wizards could have swung bigger this summer — maybe packaging picks to land a young big man like Michigan’s Morez Johnson Jr., who went No. 9 to Dallas. That would’ve been flashier. But finding value on a bargain deal is never a bad idea.
Washington now has three former No. 1 overall picks on the roster: Ayton, Davis (drafted by New Orleans in 2012) and Sarr (taken second overall in 2024 but functionally the first pick that year).
The only remaining hole is backup point guard. Bub Carrington struggled last season handling lead guard duties. Johnson is a pure shooting guard. Coulibaly is still developing offensively. But George and Riley have shown playmaking flashes, so the team could run a committee. The Wizards are also reportedly interested in nine-time All-Star Russell Westbrook, who averaged 15.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.7 assists for Sacramento last season, per The Stein Line.
Here’s an early look at the depth chart:
PG: Trae Young, Bub Carrington/Will Riley
SG: Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson, Jamir Watkins
SF: AJ Dybantsa, Bilal Coulibaly, Will Riley
PF: Anthony Davis, Justin Champagnie
C: Alex Sarr, Deandre Ayton, Tristan Vukcevic
Next up for the Wizards is Summer League, starting Thursday against the Utah Jazz at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN. Dybantsa will go head-to-head with No. 2 overall pick Darryn Peterson in Las Vegas.
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