Sam Vecenie The Athletic
_Editor’s note: This is an excerpt of a story analyzing the biggest winners and losers from the first round of the NBA draft._
**Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies win big:** I’m combining these two because they made two of my favorite picks of the draft in Tre Johnson and Cedric Coward, the former Eastern Washington and Washington State standout.
Full disclosure: I tried to make a final, last-minute adjustment on my draft rankings to slot Johnson at No. 3 on my board. Ultimately, we ran out of time to put it into the draft guide, but that’s how highly I think of Johnson. I’m a big believer in workers figuring it out. And there is a genuine case for Johnson as the hardest worker in the class. He’s a machine in how he approaches his craft. He’s singularly focused on becoming the best player he can be. I tend to buy into those kinds of players. It also doesn’t hurt that Johnson is one of the three best shooters in the class, along with Knueppel and Kentucky wing Koby Brea. If you made me pick the most functional, versatile one of that trio, I would go with Johnson. He’s an elite shooter off movement because his jumper looks the same every single time, and he’s elite at getting his feet organized underneath him.
The player Johnson reminds me of most is a modern version of Rip Hamilton, who averaged 19 points per game over 717 games in the 2000s. But whereas Hamilton played in a slower era and mostly got his shots from the midrange, Johnson plays uptempo and takes his shots at volume from beyond the arc. I don’t think it’s out of the question that he averages 25 points per game in the NBA. The Wizards also drafted Hamilton in 1999. Hopefully, they don’t preemptively trade Johnson for this era’s equivalent of a 29-year-old Jerry Stackhouse and Brian Cardinal.
For the Grizzlies, it’s quite simple — with a slight complication. I was also quite high on Coward, a big, physical upside swing at 6-foot-5 with a 7-foot-2 wingspan and pristine shooting mechanics. He’s going to be a useful NBA player because he’s enormous and a terrific worker whom NBA teams like. It’s why Memphis felt like it needed to move up to acquire him. This is the exact player archetype that the Grizzlies have been clamoring for over the last few years. They have needed a big wing to help carry the load on offense while also taking on defensive matchups. Coward won’t be able to do all of these things immediately, but he should do so while Jaren Jackson Jr. and Ja Morant are still under contract.
The complicating factor for the Grizzlies is that they gave up a large haul to get Coward. They traded No. 16, a 2028 unprotected Orlando first-rounder, and two seconds to get him. Ultimately, I think this deal is going to work out fine for Memphis, as the Magic will have Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs and Desmond Bane under contract for the 2027-28 season with no reason to tank given that they do not have their own pick. The price point doesn’t make this a home run. Sometimes, though, you need to take a home run swing, and I think this was a smart, calculated move.
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