The New Orleans Pelicans have traded back up and spot starter Tim Frazier to the Washington Wizards for their 52nd overall pick in this Thursday’s NBA Draft.
The Pelicans offseason has been busy to say the least.
After widespread speculation on the futures of Jrue Holiday, Demarcus Cousins, and Anthony Davis, as well as the front office, the New Orleans Pelicans have entered the supermarket sweep frenzy with their own under the radar transaction.
Source: New Orleans Pelicans guard Tim Frazier has been traded to the Washington Wizards in exchange for the No. 52 pick.
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) June 22, 2017
The Washington Wizards gain a capable point guard to spell John Wall. After disappointing playoff performances from Brandon Jennings and Trey Burke forced Wall to average a taxing 39 minutes per game in the post season, the Wizards had to make a move to grant their superstar a breather.
Enter third year former NIttany Lion, Tim Frazier. After joining the Trailblazers as an undrafted free agent in 2015, he joined the New Orleans Pelicans on a ten day contract on March 16th, 2016. Frazier averaged an impressive 13 points, five assists and four rebounds on 51% shooting in 16 games with the Pelicans that season. That performance was enough to gain him a two year, $4.1 million dollar deal with the Pelicans.
In the first year of his deal, Frazier played in 65 games, starting in 35 of them. And even while Alvin Gentry appointed him as starting point guard in place of Jrue Holiday toward the end of the season, Frazier could not regain his shooting stroke, going an abysmal 40% from the floor and 28% from three point range. In 12 games played in February and April he averaged an even more astonishingly low 25%.
However, Frazier remains capable of running an effective offense posting an elite assist to turnover ratio of five to one in the months he was granted playing time along side Anthony Davis and Demarcus Cousins.
What this means
Two things:
- The Pelicans must be planning for life after Jrue Holiday
- This $2 million is going towards his replacement
With the 2017/18 cap estimated at around $100 million, the Pelicans now have roughly $15 million in cap space to operate with going forward. In all likelihood this will not be enough to secure free agent talents like Kyle Lowry, George Hill, and Jeff Teague, but then again, the point guard free agent well has been drying of late.
The 76ers are now set to acquire Markelle Fultz removing Jrue Holiday’s most likely landing spot. The Brooklyn Nets are equally satisfied with a backcourt of Deangelo Russell and Jeremy Lin. Suitors remain in Dallas, Chicago, New York and potentially Utah and Indiana, but these squads aren’t drowning in cap space either.
The Pelicans can not hope to attain talent with the 52nd overall pick. Should they keep the pick their best hope lies in a long term foreign project a la Cheick Diallo. Picks at this range can be purchased by most teams (see Patrick McCaw), and thinking the Pels can package their two picks (#40 and #52) to move up this Thursday is a pipe dream.
However, the Pelicans are now just one Quincy Pondexter trade away from becoming a major player in the free agent landscape next week. Should Jrue Holiday take his talents elsewhere, the Pels may now have the ammunition to find a suitable replacement.