NBA Trade News: Washington Wizards Trade Antawn Jamison, Signal New Direction

After a lackluster seven player deal that sent Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood to Dallas, the Wizards complete the dismantling of their roster by trading Antawn Jamison to the Cavaliers.

This time around, the return for the Wizards is much greater.

The trade involves the Los Angeles Clippers as well as Cleveland and does more for the future than the deal with the Mavericks. In this trade, the Wizards receive Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskus, Clippers forwards Al Thornton and a first-round draft choice from Cleveland.

The move sends recently acquired forward Drew Gooden to the Clippers, and lands Sebastian Telfair in Cleveland

Two major deals in less than a week have left the Wizards without a superstar and signals their intentions to rebuild the team in the coming years. Barring anymore trades, the Wizards will have just four players contracted through next season. Gilbert Arenas' contracts runs beyond next season, but he is serving a season long suspension without pay and has likely seen his last days in a Wizards uniform.

All things said, this deal is exactly what the Wizards needed.

Prior to this trade, and probably after as well, many fans have expressed their dislike of the team's decision to trade Butler let alone for so little in return. It may take some time for Josh Howard to make his mark in Washington, but given his expiring contract he may not have time to.

Ilgauskus will get plenty of playing time and provide a much needed veteran presence, as well as valuable points and rebounds. But don't expect him to be around for very long.

The Wizards have loaded themselves up with expiring contracts, and pending the possible buyout or voiding of Arenas' contract, they will have a substantial amount of room under the salary cap headed into the offseason.

An offseason the is filled with drool-worthy free agents like Chris Bosh, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade.

As it stands now, the Wizards will likely start Randy Foye, Mike Miller, Howard, Al Thornton, and Ilgauskus. There is very little that would scare anyone about that line-up, but it gives the team more room to rotate their players and evaluate their assets over the course of the remaining 32 games.

The Wizards have long gone without evaluating their roster, but it isn't every day that a team parts with three, technically four, best and most tenured players.

Washington retains a roster full of young unproven players that could prove valuable in the future. Foye has played well since taking over the starting job, JaVale McGee is an exciting talent that has seen limited action but has shown some flashes of being special. Nick Young is a bit of question mark at shooting guard because he is a very streaky scorer, and his cold streaks are often longer and more painful than his hot streaks.

Andray Blatche is a wild card for the Wizards because early in the season, with Jamison out due to injury, Blatche averaged 14 points and seven rebounds over nine games.  (Note: Blatche scored a career-high 33 points and 13 rebounds in the Wizards' Feb. 17 game against Minnesota)

Reviewing the Wizards roster as it stands right now is difficult to do because it isn't clear what they will do with their new pieces in relation to the existing structure. Even more so, it is clear that very few of the players will be returning next season.

Players like Howard, Thornton, and Foye are likely to return because of their potential value to the team. Mike Miller will likely get a short-term deal and will occupy the shooting guard position unless Young proves otherwise. That isn't to say the Wizards won't look to upgrade wherever they can.

Newly added James Singleton and Quinton Ross could remain with the team with small deals, and would provide solid minutes as part of a rotation.

In the time between now and next season, the Wizards will go through a number of roster changes. They'll likely retain several of the younger, lower salary players and look to utilize their newly acquired first-round draft choice in addition to the top five pick they will likely get in the lottery.