The Nets made a couple of trades over the weekend, likely aimed at both upgrading their backup point guard position as well as creating an open roster spot.
One of the deals involved sending Tyshawn Taylor to the Pelicans along with cash for the rights to Edin Bavcic, a 29-year old Bosnian big man who was originally drafted back in 2006 by the Raptors, and may or may not ever play in the NBA.
The Pelicans clearly were in that deal for the money and nothing else, as they waived Taylor on Wednesday, according to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
The Wizards did something similar earlier this season, when they waived Kendall Marshall and Shannon Brown immediately after acquiring them (along with Marcin Gortat) in a trade with the Phoenix Suns. It’s an interesting way to make moves under the more restrictive collective bargaining agreement, but it can leave fringe players like Taylor (and Marshall before him, before catching on with the injury-ravaged Lakers) in a difficult situation.
Taylor was selected by the Nets in the second round of the 2012 draft, and holds career averages of 2.9 points, 0.9 assists and 0.4 steals in 61 games. He averaged 11.7 minutes per contest in 29 appearances for Brooklyn this season, before falling out of the rotation in mid-December.