The Washington Wizards filled their 15-man roster after waiving forward Okaro White and adding Ron Baker to the fold, shortly after the 6-foot-4 guard was waived by the New York Knicks to sign their undrafted shooting guard Allonzo Trier.
A fan-and-locker-room favorite, Ron Baker is quite familiar with the Wizards roster, given that he often had scout team duties when preparing to play them as an Eastern Conference foe.
“The difference for me coming here, I guess, I kind of know these players better than they want me to,” said Baker, according to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. “That’s fine because they’re my teammates now and we can help each other.”
While he played the role of a back-of-the-bench cog for the Knicks, Baker returned to an NBA roster very quickly, remaining unemployed for roughly a week before the Wizards pulled the trigger to acquire him. Washington's general manager Ernie Grunfeld claimed that Baker embodies exactly what the team needs.
“The things I can add is the toughness and the grit,” said Baker, who starred at mid-major Wichita State, where he averaged 13.2 points for his career. “That’s what I’m about, so bringing that on the defensive end and on the offensive end just taking good looks and sharing the ball.”
“This team has obviously two All-Stars that are really good with the ball in their hands, so just trying to play off them and be that player that everyone wants to play with.”
Baker is unlikely to see the floor a whole lot this season. However, his presence in practice will certainly play a part in this change of culture, which Scott Brooks had hoped to bring along with the acquisition of Trevor Ariza.
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