Nets forward averaged 12 ppg in 2009-10 season
Another public Wizards celebration was overshadowed Tuesday by a development behind the scenes.
Just as the loss of Andray Blatche to a foot injury for three months on Friday cut into the enjoyment of No. 1 overall draft pick John Wall’s arrival, Tuesday’s acquisition of Chinese power forward Yi Jianlian and cash considerations from New Jersey stole the spotlight from newly welcomed draft picks Trevor Booker and Hamady N’diaye.
With Yi, who is set to earn $4 million, swapped for Quinton Ross, who will earn just over $1.1 million, it was the second deal in a week in which Washington added a young asset and facilitated the clearing of salary cap space for a team looking to make a run at this summer’s high-priced free agent class.
The Wizards also helped Chicago clear space by taking on Kirk Hinrich and Kevin Seraphin, the 17th overall draft pick, in a deal that will become official on July 8.
“[Other teams are] trying to clear more cap space to see what they can do with that,” Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld said. “But we made the decision that we’re going to save some of our powder for the future and try to right now put a core of young players together that can grow and we can build with.”
Yi, 22, was the sixth overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft but has now been traded twice since then. He averaged 12.0 points and 7.2 rebounds for the 12-win Nets last season.
