The Denver Nuggets and Washington Wizards have decided to shake up their guard situations. According to a report by Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Nuggets will send a pair of stalwarts in their backcourt — Monte Morris and Will Barton — to the nation’s capital.
In exchange, Washington will part ways with one of the players it received in the Russell Westbrook trade with the Los Angeles Lakers, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, along with well-traveled guard Ish Smith.
Denver is nearing trading Monte Morris and Will Barton to Washington in deal for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 29, 2022
The move was confirmed by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who said that the expectation is it will be completed sometime soon.
Washington is finalizing a trade to acquire Denver's Will Barton and Monte Morris for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 29, 2022
Deal is getting final approvals now, and expected to be completed soon, sources said. https://t.co/FNfcClRBUV
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 29, 2022
Denver, expected to be one of the teams contending for a championship out of the Western Conference next season, acquire a three-and-D guard in Caldwell-Pope who connected on 39 percent of his triples last season en route to averaging 13.2 points per game. As for Smith, if he ends up taking the floor for the Nuggets, this move gives him the distinction of being the player who has played for the most teams in his NBA career, as Denver would be lucky number 13.
As for Washington, this gives them a pair of steady backcourt options alongside Bradley Beal, who is expected to sign a supermax extension with the team this offseason. Morris started all 74 games in which he appeared for Denver last year and has earned the distinction of being perhaps the most ball secure guards in basketball, while Barton has brought perimeter scoring to the Nuggets for the last 7.5 years.
