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The Los Angeles Lakers have traded center DeAndre Ayton to the Washington Wizards for Jaden Hardy and two second-round picks. This makes sense for the Lakers, who just invested heavily in Walker Kessler after giving up a haul of draft picks to acquire him from the Utah Jazz; however, there are quite a few ways you can read into this when it comes to the Wizards.
Just in: The Los Angeles Lakers are trading Deandre Ayton to the Washington Wizards for Jaden Hardy and two Wizards second-round picks in 2031 and 2032, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/bAEtSFpTNi
– Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 3, 2026
Perhaps the Wizards needed to add another big because they have a trade in place for Anthony Davis, despite being adamant that he wasn’t available. Then, of course, you always have the looming LeBron James decision.
Maybe they aren’t confident that Alex Sarr will be a full go for the start of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a fractured right foot next month. We may not fully know until we see how things play out over the next few weeks of the offseason.
Fantasy Impact
C DeAndre Ayton, Washington Wizards
This isn’t a great landing spot for Ayton, but it is better than staying with the Lakers. Kessler is locked in as the starting center in Los Angeles, and based on what they paid to get him, they plan on giving him big minutes. With Washington, he is joining a team with a center who only played 48 games last season and has now fractured his foot during offseason workouts. At the very least, the Wizards could limit Sarr’s minutes early in the season to be sure that he’s fully healthy.
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C Alex Sarr, Washington Wizards
This move could allow Sarr to get fully healthy, which isn’t good for his early-season production, but could make him a buy-low candidate around Christmas. The 21-year-old scored 16.3 points per game last year in his second NBA season, with 7.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 2.0 blocks per game. He is a potential budding star in the league and could be a potential league-winner down the stretch next season. Ayton changes very little for Sarr once he’s fully healed.
C Walker Kessler, Los Angeles Lakers
Ayton was never going to damage Kessler’s fantasy value; nevertheless, this is just another vote of confidence for the new Lakers’ big man. In order to make the case that Kessler will be a fantasy star, we would have to do a lot of projecting. With that said, we are confident that the Lakers are going to give him every opportunity to be a fantasy star. He just has to stay healthy and continue to develop into a high-end NBA center.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/onsi/fantasy as Lakers Trade DeAndre Ayton To Wizards, Impacting Both Alex Sarr And Walker Kessler’s Fantasy Basketball Value.
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Read more Report: Wizards acquire C Deandre Ayton from Lakers
This story was originally published July 3, 2026 at 10:47 AM.