Caron Butler, courtesy NBA.com Josh Howard, courtesy NBA.com The Washington Post’s MIchael Lee reports that the trade we mentioned in today’s Saturday Morning Post has now been agreed to by both sides. Washington has traded Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross. Trading Butler and Haywood is a huge slam of the reset button for a team struggling…

I doubt anyone is at the “Gilbert Who?” stage yet, but anyone who’s been watching the Washington Wizards play since Agent Zero went down would be hard pressed to deny that the team has been just plain fun to watch these last few weeks – perhaps because with the big gun out, they are playing like a team. Last night three players had double-doubles and a total of six players scored in double figures…

Who says the Washington Wizards didn’t improve over the offseason? Last night DCist made our first trip down to the Verizon Center this season and noticed plenty of changes; fancy new press credentials (now with marketing slogans!), shiny, new flat screen monitors in press row in section 104, that snazzy $50 million scoreboard that puts a whole new spin on the Kiss-Cam and a new red carpet themed video set to Kanye West’s “Bigger,…

.354 from the field .203 from three point land 91.7 points per game No matter how you look at the numbers, it’s clear the Washington Wizards struggled in the opening week of the NBA season, a fact reflected in their 0-3 record. The team looks disjointed on offense, taking bad shots and turning the ball over with impunity. And by giving up 105+ points per game – good for 26th in the league -…

A scant 21 days remain until my favorite day of the entire year, the NBA draft. And while Cleveland and San Antonio start the NBA finals tonight (9:00 p.m. on ABC), the rest of the league, including the Washington Wizards, are firmly entrenched in the off season. What’s in store for Team Zero? Let’s take a look. The Wizards have roughly $38 million in guaranteed salaries committed to the core of the team next…

A tumultuous weekend for the Washington Wizards took an unexpected turn for the worse on Sunday when All-Star Caron Butler fractured his right hand in a 121-107 win against the Milwaukee Bucks. Bulter was trying to contest a dunk by Ruben Patterson and hit his hand on the backboard. His availability for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs is very much in doubt at this point. “Caron is going to be…

The Miami Heat took control of a close game last night by repeatedly feeding Shaquille O’Neal in the post and The Diesel responded by scoring 10 of his season high 23 in the fourth quarter, leading the visiting Miami Heat past a depleted Washington Wizards team, 92-83. With Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison out with injuries, the Heat ran multiple defenders at Gilbert Arenas all night, holding him to 15 points on 3-15 shooting….

Forget any anger and antipathy you may have felt towards David Stern and ABC for their draconian TV policy. Trust me, you should be happy this game was blacked out locally. If you didn’t see Sunday’s disappointing 94-73 Wizards loss to Portland, you didn’t miss much. Despite his threats, Gilbert Arenas didn’t score 50 points. Not even close. The Wizards as a team didn’t break 50 until the fourth quarter. The team played lackadaisically…

For the past two days the media have been wondering why no one double teams Gilbert Arenas when he has the ball. So the Knicks tried it last night to great effect. Agent Zero was held to 16 points on 4-14 shooting, but got the ball in the hands of his teammates consistently, which enabled the Wizards to take down the Knicks 99-98. Yes, it was another wild finish at the Verizon Center last…

Ouch. That one hurt. Just 3.6 seconds from heading home with a commanding 3-2 series lead, the Washington Wizards had a severe case of brain lock and allowed LeBron James to score an almost uncontested lay up to give the Cavs a 121-120 win in Game 5 of the NBA’s best first round playoff series. LeBron one-upped Agent Zero 45 points to 44 and gets to enjoy being the hero for his efforts. If…