There was breaking news last night that Trevor Ariza was being traded to the nation’s capital in a three-team deal involving the Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies. According to the deal, the Grizz were going to get Kelly Oubre Jr., the Phoenix Suns would get Austin Rivers and two other players and the Wiz were going to get Ariza.
Then several minutes later, the deal fell apart because Memphis wasn’t willing to deal Dillon Brooks. There was confusion as to what “Brooks” on the team would be traded. Apparently, the Grizz were ready to part ways with MarShon.
12 hours later, it looks like the three-team deal has turned into a swap between the Suns and Wizards, as Ariza is still being dealt to Washington, but now Oubre and Rivers will be headed to Phoenix.
Wizards are trading Austin Rivers and Kelly Oubre to the Suns, league sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/GmbeUXzZT3
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 15, 2018
Yesterday, the Suns were adamant not to send Ariza to the Los Angeles Lakers and were looking for other deals outside of the Western Conference and the Wizards were one of the suitors pushing the hardest.
The reason Oubre Jr. got dealt was due to the fact that Washington did not think they had the cap flexibility to resign him this summer when he became a free agent, thanks to the ballooning salary of John Wall and other deals they gave Otto Porter Jr. and Bradley Beal.
We’ll see if any other deals come out of D.C. in the coming days.