The Suns, in complete rebuild mode, had tried to move Morris all season in exchange for a first-round selection. They got it from the Wizards, who were desperate to make a playoff push and sent a top-nine-protected pick in addition to Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair. Humphries and Blair are no longer with the Suns. The draft pick — which the Suns would receive unless the Wizards missed the postseason and ended up with one of the top nine picks in the draft lottery — was all Phoenix cared about.

For Wizards General Manager Ernie Grunfeld, the draft pick was worth the cost for the possible short-term and long-term boosts Morris could provide. In the long term, Morris, 26, is a solid player in his prime who fits in with the team’s core at the relatively cheap price of $8 million per year over the next three seasons. In the short term, he was a power forward they believed was an upgrade and would help them avoid missing the playoffs this season.

But because the draft pick was top-nine-protected but not lottery (top 14)-protected, the Wizards set the stage for a possibly disastrous scenario: They could find themselves out of the playoffs and out of the first round of the draft. Coupled with a separate deal made on draft night last June – trading their second-round selection to the Atlanta Hawks as part of a package to acquire Kelly Oubre Jr. — that would mean no draft picks in 2016.

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With seven games remaining in the regular season, that’s exactly where Washington is uncomfortably situated. The Wizards are three games behind the Indiana Pacers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, while holding the 12th-worst record in the league at 36-39.

Barring ping-pong-ball magic on lottery night and an unlikely climb into the top three selections, the Wizards need to finish with one of the nine worst records to keep their draft pick. Entering Friday, the Milwaukee Bucks have the ninth-worst record in the league at 31-44, five games worse than Washington. Unless the Wizards go in complete tank mode, the chances of erasing the differential are remote.

As a result, the Wizards will probably be not good enough to advance to the postseason, but too good to keep their draft pick. The worst of both worlds.

Deciding whether the Wizards “won” or “lost” the trade is premature, but their recent history of trading lottery picks isn’t pleasant. In 2009, they swapped the fifth overall pick for Mike Miller and Randy Foye; the Minnesota Timberwolves took Ricky Rubio with the selection, while Stephen Curry was drafted seventh and DeMar DeRozan went ninth. Foye and Miller both lasted one season in Washington. The team finished 26-56.

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Still, Morris is still going to be around for the near future on a team-friendly contract, and he can help the Wizards more quickly than a draft pick likely could as John Wall enters his prime. Morris could end up being better than any player the Wizards would’ve selected late in the late lottery anyway, particularly since this year’s draft crop is considered relatively weak (though that evaluation is also premature). Morris has his flaws but he’s a proven commodity and has been solid in 22 games (16 starts) with the Wizards.