The Memphis Grizzlies have been struggling to score and they are looking to address that with a recent signing. Austin Rivers is expected to join the team once his buyout is official.
Austin Rivers was a part of the trade that sent Trevor Ariza to Washington Wizards. In a strange twist, the Memphis Grizzlies are actually going to end up being involved as we originally thought.
It isn’t officially part of the deal but they will be getting a player who was involved after they nearly acquired Kelly Oubre Friday night.
The Grizzlies bench has been solid for most of the season but recent offensive struggles have really hurt this team.
Rivers isn’t going to change that all by himself but he is an upgrade over some current players on the roster.
It’s unclear what the Grizzlies will do with their point guard situation since they have shown trust in Shelvin Mack already.
Jevon Carter had just started to get minutes and it seems like he could be the guy who loses the most from this deal.
He has shown some positive things in the first two things so maybe the team would consider keeping him in the rotation in some capacity.
After having a really good season with the Clippers last season in which he averaged 15 points per game he had high hopes coming into this season with Washington.
In just 29 games with the Wizards, he averaged just 7 points per game on 39% shooting. A change of scenery should do him good since everyone on that team seemed to be struggling.
In order for this to happen somebody will have to be cut. Wayne Selden, Ivan Rabb, and MarShon Brooks all could be considered but if I had to guess it would be Selden.
There have been more reports coming out that say this deal isn’t official yet and that Rivers still could end up elsewhere.
If he does get signed Grizzlies fans will need to just forget about his Clippers days and accept him as a part of this team. The offense needs a boost and he is the best option out there.
Lets just all hope that either way Carter doesn’t end up going back to the G-League because if that’s the case then many fans will be upset.
We will just have to wait and see how it goes but with the injury to Mike Conley adding another point guard should be a big help.
With so many moving parts in this rotation, it’ll be interesting to see how they rotate guys at that spot going forward. But in the end getting a little bit more scoring can never be a bad thing.