Hours after talking to team president Ernie Grunfeld, where he hinted that the squad was working the phones, the Washington Wizards have traded their lone 2017 NBA Draft pick, number 52 overall to the New Orleans Pelicans for guard Tim Frazier.
"Tim has shown in his three seasons in the league, particularly during his time in New Orleans, that he can be a versatile, play-making point guard,” said Grunfeld. “He will be a good addition to our bench as a young player that we can continue to develop."
Frazier attended Penn State for five years after receiving a medical redshirt following his junior season due to a ruptured left Achilles tendon.
The 26-year old went undrafted in the 2014 NBA Draft but did workout for Washington who ended up trading their second-round pick Jordan Clarkson that year. The 6-foot-1 point guard went on to win D-League rookie of the year in 2015 and was named to the All-NBA D-League First Team and D-League All-Defensive Second Team.
After playing on the 76ers summer league team in 2014, Frazier got his opportunity in February 2015 on a pair of 10-day contracts. Frazier spent the 2015-16 season with the Trail Blazers who he signed a multi-year deal with but was waived post All-Star Break. Frazier was soon thereafter signed by the Pelicans to a 10-day contract because of their many injuries and was re-signed for the 2016-17 season.
Last season, the guard played a career high 65 games, starting 35 of them all while averaging 7.1 points and 5.2 assists in 23.5 minutes per game for the Pelicans. Frazier will need to improve his shooting from beyond the arc as he is a career 31% shooter from deep.
With the likely loss of Trey Burke and Brandon Jennings in free agency Frazier joins Tomas Satoransky in the point guard room behind John Wall. The Wizards continue to look for an answer to their backup point guard need which has featured a range of players from the likes of Eric Maynor to Andre Miller to Ramon Sessions.
With little room to maneuver, and should the Wizards wish to stay under the luxury tax, Frazier's remaining one-year, $2 million contract is a bargain. Then again Frazier could walk next summer so another one-year bench rental similar to Trey Burke last year is a pretty safe bet.
Here is how the Wizards depth chart now stands assuming Washington does indeed re-sign restricted free agent Otto Porter Jr., which is not necessarily a given.
PG: John Wall, Tomas Satoransky, Tim Frazier
SG: Bradley Beal, Sheldon Mac
SF: Otto Porter Jr., Kelly Oubre Jr.
PF: Markieff Morris, Jason Smith, Chris McCullough
C: Marcin Gortat, Ian Mahinmi, Daniel Ochefu
With this trade Washington will be absent in the NBA Draft for the second year in a row, but NBA.com’s David Aldridge is reporting that the Wizards could be inclined to trade back into the second round. What assets they have to negotiate such a deal? Cash? Your guess is as good as mine, but they were hoping to move up in the second round prior to the Frazier move, a source told Hoop District.
It is feasible that they are worried the likes of Frank Mason III or Tyler Dorsey would have been selected before their 52 slot. Perhaps that mindset and inability to move up forced them to change their plans and pull the trigger on Frazier.