Who should Memphis Grizzlies target this summer?

In our monthly Twitter mailbag, a follower messaged us asking how much salary cap the Memphis Grizzlies will have and who they should target?

No, the Memphis Grizzlies won’t have the salary cap to sign LeBron James. Shoutout to the three max contracts for that one.

Luckily, after this season, Marc Gasol could have one season left — if he opts out of his contract. In addition, Chandler Parsons and Mike Conley would have two and three years left in their deals, respectively.

According to ShamSports’ Capulator, the Memphis Grizzlies will have their full non-tax payer mid-level exception — which equates to about $8.5M. The Grizzlies will essentially have zero cap-space, which will hinder any big free agent signings.

However, if they use their full MLE, they could land an impact player. Given this information, who should they target? What kind of positions should they target?

Tyreke or bust(?)

Regardless of the salary cap this summer, they need to maximize their use of the MLE. With Chandler Parsons, Marc Gasol and Mike Conley’s max contracts fill up the salary sheet. And, JaMychal Green and Ben McLemore’s contracts don’t help either. In order to make this team competitive, they must take advantage of the MLE.

There’s not even a position to target with MLE; this team just needs talent. If there was a particular need, it’s either shooting or secondary playmaking.

The absolute first target on the list for the MLE is Tyreke Evans. The Grizzlies reiterated that they’re trying to sign him next summer with their MLE. If they fail to do so, it’ll be a colossal disappointment — especially when they declined the return for him at the trade deadline.

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Failing to re-sign Tyreke will make things tricky. Who could they target? Finding a young unrestricted free agent or an undervalued restricted one may be the way to go. If they don’t see much potential in Deyonta Davis, they can kick the rocks with Nerlens Noel — whose market value has plummeted a bit, despite his intriguing skill-set. Another interesting find would be Marcus Smart, but no one really knows his market value this summer. They could also look for shooting in Patrick McCaw or Mario Hezonja with the bi-annual exception of $3M — even though that might get matched.

Regardless though, no matter how much money they have, their number one objective in free agency has to be Tyreke Evans. If they lose him, the trade deadline decision to keep him would be a catastrophe.

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