Shabazz Napier to Trail Blazers: Latest Trade Details, Comments, Reaction

Shabazz Napier is headed to his third team in as many NBA seasons. The Orlando Magic agreed to trade the former UConn star to the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday for cash considerations.  

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel initially reported the news on Tuesday, but the Magic made the transaction official two days later through an announcement on their website.

Orlando is not required to receive a player because Portland will absorb Napier's salary into its cap space, but, per the Magic's announcement, the team acquired cash considerations in the deal.

Napier, 24, is due to make $1.35 million in 2016-17. The Blazers hold a fourth-year team option for 2017-18 at $2.36 million, a number they may be fine with given the rapidly ascending salary cap.

Once an ascendant star on UConn's 2014 national championship team, Napier has struggled since Charlotte selected him at No. 24 two years ago. He started 10 games as an overmatched rookie with the Miami Heat in 2014-15 before being shipped to Orlando for a second-round pick last summer.

Despite having a better chance on paper to find playing time, Napier saw marked decreases in every major category. Napier finished with averages of 3.7 points and 1.8 assists in 10.9 minutes per game. Orlando wound up installing veteran C.J. Watson as its backup point guard after the All-Star break.

Credit: NBA.com

"Everything's different," Napier said in December, per Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant. "You've got to start over; that's the biggest difference. You go from being on top of the world to coming down and starting over and still having the same confidence. That's just how I am. Always a work in progress, always a process that I enjoy."

Portland's interest in Napier is nothing new. Marc J. Spears of ESPN's The Undefeated reported Feb. 18 the Blazers and Chicago Bulls were interested in adding Napier before the trade deadline. Nothing of substance came of those rumors, but it appears the teams re-engaged in talks after the season ended.

The Blazers spent a good part of last season without a primary backup to All-Star Damian Lillard. Tim Frazier and Brian Roberts were with the team for spells, but head coach Terry Stotts seemed to like C.J. McCollum working as the primary ball-handler when Lillard was on the bench.

New signee Evan Turner, per the team's official release, is a good secondary ball-handler who can lead bench units, but there's obviously something Portland sees in Napier that hasn't shown up on film. He has, to this point, been overmatched on both ends of the floor, getting bullied on defense and showing a surprising lack of scoring aptitude offensively. 

Milwaukee Bucks guard Rashad Vaughn was the only player to appear in more than half of his team's games to have a lower shooting percentage than Napier (33.8 percent). The Blazers became a bit of a safe haven for former first-round picks on the downslope (Moe Harkless, Mason Plumlee, Noah Vonleh, etc) last season, so perhaps this is another buy-low player who will work out.

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter.