After all the trading done in the past week by Washington — two massive moves with a total of three teams that shipped out the core of their roster, including former All-Stars Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler — Wizards president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld referred to a last-minute deal that he submitted just before Thursday’s 3 p.m. NBA trade deadline as “something minor.”
For a team that has decided to wipe away nearly every remnant of the past season and a half, it was a fitting yet harsh way to describe moving reserve forward Dominic McGuire to Sacramento in return for a 2010 second round draft pick.
Despite being picked in second round (47th overall) in the 2007 draft, McGuire had risen to a 57-game starter in 2008-09, averaging 4.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
McGuire’s departure will hardly be insignificant. By parting ways with his $825,000 salary, the Wizards also moved under the salary cap’s luxury tax line, which will put them in line to receive their share of a pooled rebate from the league for teams that stay under the line, paid by the teams that do pay the luxury penalty.
