On Friday night, the Washington Wizards thought they were trading Kelly Oubre to the Memphis Grizzlies and Austin Rivers to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Trevor Ariza and the Grizzlies’ 2020 second-round pick.

But in one of the most bizarre trade sagas in NBA history, the teams called off the deal when Phoenix realized Memphis was trading MarShon Brooks, and not Dillon Brooks. Everything happened after ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski had effectively announced the trade, which happened during the Wizards’ yucky loss to the Brooklyn Nets. Oubre looked crushed speaking with reporters after the game. Rivers, being traded for the third time in four years, looked furious.

An already toxic locker room could have become radioactive today. After the trade collapsed, the duo would have been deeply uncomfortable putting on a Wizards jersey again.

Now they don’t have to.

Wizards are trading Austin Rivers and Kelly Oubre to the Suns, league sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/GmbeUXzZT3

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 15, 2018

The Wizards got their man on Saturday, dealing both Oubre and Rivers to the Suns for Ariza. No picks are involved this time. Memphis executives, perhaps wanting to distance themselves from Friday night’s display of incompetence, decided to sit this one out.

This deal is one in which logic and reality don’t square up.

Oubre is a restricted free agent at the end of this season, and any offer sheet above the qualifying offer will cripple the taxed-out Wizards. Rivers, too, is entering free agency in 2019. Neither guy looks to be part of Washington’s long-term plans – if those plans even exist.

Ariza is also a one-year rental, but he’s a proven playoff contributor, even giving the Wizards some excellent play from 2012 to 2014. The 33-year-old vet canned 2.7 threes per 36 minutes at a solid 36.8 percent clip with the Rockets last season. He’s not quite knockdown, but teams guard him, and he’s content as a spot-up guy and occasional ball-mover.

Defensively, he’s always been a long-armed pest. He can guard both forward spots, has experience in both switching and non-switching schemes, and can jostle with the very best wing scorers. The 15-year pro at his best is an intelligent 3-and-D forward – the kind of reliable pawn this chaotic Wizards team needs.

Rivers has had trouble adapting to life in DC, failing to take or make shots and fouling at will. Oubre, who is shooting just 31.1 percent from three and ranks 418^th league-wide in PIPM, hasn’t progressed this year. Washington doesn’t need shot-happy slashers around John Wall and Bradley Beal. It needs shooters and defenders.

That’s the logic.

Reality isn’t so kind. Ariza is shooting a career-low 49.1 percent at the rim this season, and his defense has slipped – both indications that those legs are creaking under the weight of 30,000 career minutes. Among wings who have played more than 300 minutes this year, Ariza would rank in the eighth percentile for BBall Index’s perimeter defense grade.

Players who go to Phoenix tend to play, um, poorly. But Ariza is old, and there’s no guarantee he adds much on-court value. He’ll presumably toggle between guarding threes and fours next to Otto Porter. But if he can’t track threes on the perimeter anymore, then he’s just a full-time power forward. And if he’s a full-time power forward, he’s simply a skinny stretch four who doesn’t solve Washington’s issues defensively or on the glass.

Sound familiar? It should. The team already employs Jeff Green and Sam Dekker.

Even if Ariza gets back to his best, this move isn’t as common-sense as it may seem. Oubre was a long-term asset. He may not have been in Washington’s plans, but other teams out there will pay him next summer. And while he’s been a selfish and generally unhelpful offensive player in this contract year, the 23-year-old is a still a nuclear athlete with untapped potential on both ends.

Instead of cashing in on the youngster for some picks, Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld went for the win-now trade yet again. The Wiz got four up-and-down years out of Oubre and that’s it. Their 2015 draft pick is now gone without any comparable value in return.

Ariza may revitalize a downtrodden locker room and drag this team back to an eight seed. He may not. Either way, the Wizards will likely have no Ariza, no Oubre, no Rivers, and no assets to show for this whole fiasco come next June.