National Basketball Association

Washington Wizards: DeJuan Blair Is Headed To China

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Washington Wizards expected DeJuan Blair to become a major contributor for their team, but the former Pitt standout is now headed to China.

DeJuan Blair should have been drafted by the Washington Wizards in 2009, but the team decided that cash was more valuable by trading the 32nd pick to the Houston Rockets for dough. Five spots later, the San Antonio Spurs snagged Blair.

Averaging over 15 points and 12 rebounds per game during his second and final season at Pitt, Blair seemed to have the makings of a draft steal, so of course he ended up in San Antonio.

Blair’s draft stock plummeted despite his productive season in college because it was discovered that he was missing both of his ACLs. Teams, including the Wizards, were reluctant to use a pick on him with the belief that he was an injury away from losing his career.

The 6-foot-7 (his height listing is probably exaggerated) center went on to have the best season of his career during his first year in San Antonio. It was all downhill after that.

Gregg Popovich recognized that Boris Diaw, who’s capable of hitting shots outside of the painted area, is a better fit for the club’s offense than Blair. His playing time steadily decreased and Blair eventually left the team in 2013 after signing with the Dallas Mavericks.

Inconsistent playing time continued to be a factor for Blair in Dallas.

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By that point, though, Blair did show that he’s durable enough to stick around.

He played in over 80 games during his first two seasons and suited up for 78 in his lone season with Dallas.

With that concern out of their mind, the Washington Wizards traded for Blair in 2014 following the departure of Trevor Booker.

Booker was a high-energy player and arguably the best rebounding big man the Wizards had coming off the bench.

In order to replace his presence, the Wizards acquired Blair for a draft-and-stash pick, which equated to virtually nothing.

Expectations were high for Blair and most, including myself, thought he would find a way to get a spot in the rotation with Booker gone.

Kris Humphries, though, did more than enough to replace Booker’s production, leaving Blair to rot on the bench again.

Blair played a career-low six minutes per game during the 2014-15 season in Washington.

In the season that followed, Blair played in just 29 games for Washington before being shipped to the Phoenix Suns along side Humphries in a package for Markieff Morris, who’s currently the starting power forward in D.C.

The Grizzly Blair, as Wizards fans affectionately called him, became a victim of the changing game.

His range is very limited, he can’t run the floor as well as other bigs and he’s a liability on the defensive end. As awesome as he was in the locker room, his personality wasn’t enough to get minutes.

Blair was waived by the Suns after the trade and he’s been a free agent ever since.

According to David Pick, Blair will spend this upcoming season in the Chinese Basketball Association.

If he waited longer, Blair might have been able to get a contract offer, just like former Washington Wizards center Kevin Seraphin. But, since he was largely absent for about two years, teams were probably only willing to offer training camp invitations.

In China, Blair will have an opportunity to actually play and make guaranteed money. Waiting for a phone call from an NBA team – one that might’ve never come – wasn’t worth it this late into the off-season.

Players have rebuilt their reputations in China before, so perhaps Blair will play well enough to get another look from an NBA team in the near future. The CBA season ends before the NBA Playoffs begin.

His time in Washington wasn’t very noteworthy, but I will always remember Blair for riding a hoverboard during media day. Nothing says “I’m ready for the season” like hopping on a flammable object with wheels.

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