Wizards Deal Navarro for Grizzlies' Pick

The Washington Wizards have agreed in principle to a trade that would send guard Juan Carlos Navarro to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for a conditional first-round draft pick, according to multiple league sources.

The trade wasn't completed last night because Navarro has to sign a contract with Memphis and then paperwork must be finalized regarding his contract buyout with his team in the Spanish Pro League, FC Barcelona, according to sources.

The deal appears to have come in just under a deadline established by Barcelona last week. Had the Wizards not worked out a trade of Navarro's NBA rights by the end of business last night, Navarro would have returned to Barcelona next season and his buyout with the club would have risen back to $14 million from about $2 million.

Navarro was selected by the Wizards in the second round of the 2002 draft but never signed with the team and developed into one of the top players in Europe in recent seasons. Even though his contract with Barcelona has two years remaining, Navarro negotiated a way out by convincing the team's management that he wanted to test himself in the NBA.

To accommodate Navarro, Barcelona agreed to lower his buyout. Once the trade is completed, the Grizzlies will pay up to $500,000 of the buyout and Navarro will have to account for the remaining amount.

The Wizards have retained Navarro's NBA rights since 2002 but never seriously considered signing him this summer. Once the team signed shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson to a four-year, $15 million contract earlier this month, team president Ernie Grunfeld started aggressively shopping Navarro's rights around the league.

As many as eight teams expressed interest in the 27-year-old guard, but Memphis has been considered a likely destination throughout the process because of Navarro's relationship with Grizzlies star Pau Gasol. Navarro and Gasol came up together through Spain's youth basketball system and are stars for the country's national team.

It was unclear last night whether the first-round pick acquired by the Wizards will be in the 2008 for '09 draft. According to sources, the draft pick likely will be lottery-protected, meaning Memphis would keep the pick if it falls in the top 14.

Should the Grizzlies, who finished 22-60 last season, wind up in the lottery again next season, the draft pick likely would shift to the following year and be protected for only the top three selections, meaning the Wizards would keep the pick as long as Memphis didn't wind up with one of the top three picks.

The Wizards have 11 players under contract and approximately $64.7 million committed to salaries for next season. The team was close to signing restricted free agent forward Andray Blatche to a five-year, $12.5 million deal this week, according to sources, but those negotiations have been put on hold following Blatche's arrest for solicitation early Thursday morning.

The Wizards are expected to stay under the luxury tax threshold of $67.9 million. Teams that go over the threshold have to pay $1 for every dollar they are over.