Ernie Grunfeld has finalized the NBA’s most embarrassing trade in league history, sending Kelly Oubre Jr. and Austin Rivers to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Trevor Ariza. While the move modestly improves the team this season, it uses one of the team’s more valuable long-term bargaining chips for the shortest of short-term gains.
It’s a #SoWizards deal in many ways, starting with the screwy way in which Memphis and Phoenix couldn’t agree on which player named Brooks (Dillon or MarShon) would be included — a disagreement discovered not when the Wizards (acting as go-between to broker the trade) realized the teams were talking about different players, but when the teams saw media reports.