Who is Tim Frazier? He’s 25 years old, listed as a 6’1″, 170-pound point guard for the New Orleans Pelicans. He’s a product of Penn State University and he’s bounced around the NBA to this point in his career. He went undrafted and started his NBA journey as a member of the NBA D-League’s Maine Red Claws. Frazier ripped it up, being selected to the NBA D-League All-Star game and also earning the honor of being on the D-League All-Rookie team, All-Defense team and All-NBA D-League team. Plus he won NBA D-League Rookie of the Year and NBA D-League MVP in the same season.
He went on to play for the Philadelphia 76ers, then he joined the Portland Trail Blazers but he was waived and found himself back in the D-League in 2016. He spent a short time there before joining the Pelicans on a 10-day contract in March of 2016 and made the most of it. He secured a two-year guaranteed contract with the Pels, being viewed as a backup point guard. As Jrue Holiday misses time to be with his wife, who just gave birth and had a brain tumor removed, Frazier was tossed into the starting lineup. That’s a brief summary of who Tim Frazier is.
Tim’s teammate Anthony Davis has been ripping up the NBA, posting historic outputs in his first two games of the season. But the Pelicans have losses in both of those matchups. After New Orleans recent loss at the hands of the Golden State Warriors, Frazier revealed he had some extra motivation. His 21 point, 10 assist, six rebound game was a small showcase for ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith.
On Thursday’s episode of First Take Stephen A. Smith ripped Davis’ teammates, Frazier included. “Who the hell is Tim Frazier?”, Smith said. (Check out the 5:00 mark.)
During Frazier’s game against the Warriors, he didn’t shy away from confrontation. He wasn’t afraid to voice his displeasure to a referee and say a few words to reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry.
Justin Verrier of ESPN reported that Frazier was indeed motivated by Smith’s words.
Tim Frazier's full quote on being motivated by Stephen A. Smith comments: pic.twitter.com/n2NOvefcRx
— Justin Verrier (@JustinVerrier) October 29, 2016
And Frazier fittingly proceeded to tweet the following.
"Who is Tim Frazier"….
— Tim Frazier (@Timfraz23) October 29, 2016
To which Stephen A. Smith responded, noting that he now knows who Tim Frazier is.
If I didn't know before, I know now @Timfraz23. Good job last night. Keep pushing forward. And Yes! I'm definitely watching. Good luck!
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) October 29, 2016
Now Stephen A knows who Tim Frazier is and the NBA might also be getting to know his name pretty soon. He has talent and hopefully he can prove his worth over the life of his deal with the Pelicans, a team looking to add a steady hand to their often injured squad.
