Memphis Grizzlies: What is the future for Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, and Jeff Green?

Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

The Memphis Grizzlies are entering an offseason filled with all sorts of questions. Can they sign Mike Conley to an extension?  Will Marc Gasol stay or will he depart in free agency? Will Jeff Green opt in to his contract? These are questions that cannot be answered right now, but Marc Stein of ESPN has given us some important information regarding the status of all three players.

Regarding Mike Conley, Stein says:

"The Grizzlies would love to [sign Conley to an extension].Sources say, furthermore, that they’ve tried to engage Conley in extension talks. More than once.But the five-year, $40 million pact they signed Conley to in 2010 — openly second-guessed all over the NBA map at the time — proved to be too shrewd. So the consensus starting point guard on the league’s All-Underrated Team simply can’t sign an extension, working from the figures on his current deal, that could come close to the sort of offers he’s likely to attract as a 2016 free agent at the age of 28."

Mike Conley can get way more money if he signs a new deal as a free agent in 2016, which means that it is highly unlikely he agrees to a new extension this summer. This doesn’t at all mean he won’t stay with the team, but it does mean that even if he does want to stay long-term, he won’t strike a new deal until 2016.

As for Marc Gasol, Stein reports:

"Nobody knows.Maybe not even Gasol himself.And in the event Big Spain does have his looming foray into free agency all secretly mapped out, chances are he hasn’t shared it with anyone yet apart from his representatives and brother Pau."

This is a little bit alarming considering one might think if he were going to stay he wouldn’t be so secretive. Still, all the same, Marc Gasol has had a good relationship with the city and the organization, so there is good reason to believe he’ll stay. Especially since the team is built around him and there isn’t any reason to doubt that the team will continue to improve so long as he sticks around.

Lastly, regarding Jeff Green, Stein reports:

"The working expectation on Beale Street at the minute is that Green will decide to exercise his $9.2 million player option for next season after falling well short of the dream of being the final piece of the puzzle that Memphis had when it acquired him from Boston in January."

The odds that Green finds a more lucrative deal than the one he has aren’t very high considering how he tanked in the playoffs. He didn’t produce in the way the Grizzlies hoped he would and it’s unlikely that some other team thinks they can fix him or get more production out of him.

In addition, Jeff Green actually fits nicely with this Grizzlies team. On paper, he should have been a piece that got the Grizzlies to at least the Western Conference Finals and possibly the NBA Finals. It might be mutually beneficial for both the Grizzlies and Jeff Green to have one more year together. Perhaps Jeff Green can still become that piece and in the process up his market value for the summer of 2016.

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