NBA All-Star Break May Mean Wiz Trade Time

The All-Star break hasn't come quick enough for the Washington Wizards. Players are now off for an entire week before the next game on Feb 17. And the trade deadline is one day later.

While the players can take some time off from a miserable season, management has plenty of work to do to figure out what's wrong with this team. The most logical thing to do: start over and make some trades.

This season started with lots of expectations. The Big 3 -- Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, and Caron Butler -- were finally healthy and ready to erase last season's horrendous 19-62 record. Well, the Big 3 didn't last long together, and with the trade deadline quickly approaching, Jamison and Butler are wanted while Arenas sits out his year-long suspension. Right now the Wizards have the fourth-worst record in the NBA at 17-33.

On the trading block: Jamison, Butler and Brendan Haywood. Haywood's trade value has picked up in recent weeks. Teams rumored to want him bad include the Houston Rockets and Portland TrailBlazers.

The Rockets want to ship out former All-Star Tracy McGrady, and a three-team trade could work, according to Yahoo Sports. The Wizards would ship Butler and Haywood to the Rockets. The Wizards would get Al Harrington from the New York Kincks and the Rockets would send McGrady to the Knicks. The Wizards would definately need some more in return to make this complicated deal work.

Possibility number two! Butler would be headed to the Dallas Mavericks. What would the Wiz get in return?  Money. Mavs owner Mark Cuban has plenty of it. The Wiz would save about $5 million in salary cap space.

Possibility number three! Could Captain Jamison team up with Lebron James and the Cavaliers? We highly doubt this trade will happen. You don't send your best player to your arch rival.

So what should Wizards fans expect when the team returns to the court next week? We would guess the Wizards pull off at least one trade. The Wiz need to build up some draft picks, save some money, and start over. You never know if Arenas will play for the Wiz next year, so the playoffs are far from reality.

While the D.C. area digs out from the blizzard of 2010, get ready for some changes to the Wizards starting lineup when the team returns to the court at the Verizon Center next Wednesday night.

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