Bub Carrington and Jonas Valančiūnas
Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images
Veterans like Malcolm Brogdon and Jonas Valančiūnas have value for plenty of teams around the league, but they’re playing a particularly important role for the Washington Wizards. They’re basically role models, sages and tone-setters for one of the least experienced cores around.
The Wizards need to field offers on them, Kyle Kuzma, Corey Kispert and anyone else over the age of 25. However, they shouldn’t execute many age-based fire sales unless they’re absolutely sure the youth corps is in a good place.
Second-year wing Bilal Coulibaly is younger than plenty of this season’s rookies. Recent draftees Alex Sarr, Bub Carrington and Kyshawn George are in the infancy of their careers. Even head coach Brian Keefe is short on experience.
Veteran influences matter, especially as losses mount, bad habits form and culture crystallizes. If the market doesn’t yield obviously worthwhile return packages, and if it’s not clear the young pieces on the roster are ready to take the training wheels off, Washington might need to consider hanging onto a few of its elder statesmen.
Grant Hughes covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@gt_hughes), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, where he appears with Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale.
