The deal
Wizards get: Guard Tim Frazier
Pelicans get: 2017 No. 52 pick
Washington Wizards: A-
During the 274 minutes John Wall played during the Wizards' seven-game loss to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals, the two teams were dead even, according to NBA.com/Stats. In the 67 minutes Wall rested, Washington was outscored by 24.7 points per 100 possessions, enough to tilt the series in Boston's favor.
The Wizards are never going to play particularly well with Wall on the bench, because, to state the obvious, it means they're without their best player. But they can, and probably must, do better than they did last year with first Trey Burke and later (including the playoffs) Brandon Jennings backing up Wall.
Enter Frazier, whom I pegged as a possible target for Washington ahead of the trade deadline. He's an ideal fit for the Wizards because salary is also an important consideration for them -- they're likely to pay the luxury tax if they re-sign Otto Porter -- and Frazier is making just $2 million this season, far less than the market for a backup point guard in free agency.
Don't get too carried away with Frazier's best moments, including seven double-doubles and a triple-double last season, all of them in the first 25 games. Because he's a poor 3-point shooter (31.3 percent last season, right at his career mark) and gets to the rim relatively infrequently, Frazier will never be an efficient scorer. His size (a generous 6-foot-1) will always be an issue defensively.
Still, Frazier can run an offense and set up teammates assuming Washington puts some scoring punch around him on the second unit. The Wizards surely wouldn't have done better with either the 52nd pick or spending the same money in free agency, making this a good trade for them.
New Orleans Pelicans: C-
As the Pelicans prepare for next season, their primary backup point guard is probably going to be Jordan Crawford, who played well over the final two months of the season, which made Frazier expendable.
That assumes, of course, New Orleans can re-sign starting point guard Jrue Holiday, which is hardly a given. In the event that Holiday signs elsewhere, the Pelicans would probably want to clear cap space to find a replacement. Renouncing the rights to free agents Dante Cunningham and Donatas Motiejunas would probably get them to about $13 million in space, not yet enough to bid on a starter. Clearing Frazier's modest salary off the books might help in that scenario.
Ultimately, I'd probably rather keep Frazier and see what the market looks like in mid-July than deal him for a draft pick that's unlikely to yield any NBA contributions.