Los Angeles - Looking to pull themselves out of the Eastern Conference cellar, the Washington Wizards on Wednesday picked up a pair of backup guards in a three-team trade with the Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Hornets.

The Wizards (4-13), who recently fired head coach Eddie Jordan due to their slow start, acquired Javaris Crittenton from the Grizzlies and Mike James from the Hornets.

In exchange, Washington sent veteran point guard Antonio Daniels to New Orleans for James, and returned a conditional first-round pick to Memphis for Crittenton that was part of the Juan Carlos Navarro deal in 2007.

Memphis also sent a 2015 second-round pick to New Orleans.

To make room on their roster, the Wizards released guard Dee Brown.

"This trade strengthens and energizes our backcourt by giving us a veteran guard in Mike James who can help us immediately with his stability and scoring ability and a young guard in Javaris Crittenton who can help us now and in the future with his athleticism," Wizards general manager Ernie Grunfeld said in a statement released on the team's website.

Crittenton was a first-round pick of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2007, but was shipped to Memphis as part of the Pau Gasol trade last February. Mired on the bench behind Mike Conley and Kyle Lowry, the seldom-used guard was averaging 2.7 points in seven games this season.

The sharpshooting James, who will be joining his ninth NBA team, owns a 10.6 scoring average in 471 career games.

Daniels, who will serve as a backup to All-Star guard Chris Paul was averaging 5.1 points and 3.6 assists in 13 games for Washington this season (dpa)