Grading the Deal: Memphis Grizzlies Get Lucky as Mike Conley is Shipped

The Memphis Grizzlies decided to agree to a deal sooner rather than later, thus shipping Mike Conley to the Utah Jazz for a grand package of players and draft picks.

In the words of the infamous scene from the tv show “The Office” where Michael Scott goes into a panic and thus is now a staple in the .gif community, “It’s happening!” The Memphis Grizzlies finally cashed in on the Mike Conley stock and landed themselves quite the haul for the soon-to-be 32-year-old, who, despite local arguments, has never been an NBA All-Star.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, in a deal pending official league approval/completion, Memphis will trade Conley alone to the Utah Jazz for a package of three players plus future picks.

The first player included was Jae Crowder, who is a solid role-playing three-and-D wing who was once looked at as a rising star just a couple years ago. With the Grizzlies poised to select Ja Morant with their own No. 2 overall pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft, I can see Crowder becoming good stretch defender, who at 6’6″ and 230 pounds is physical and athletic enough to spend time at both forward positions. Keep in mind that Crowder is an expiring contract who will have trade value at any time if the Grizzlies choose to later move him.

The second component to the deal is the contract of Kyle Korver, which will only be worth $3.4 million for the 2019-20 season if he is waived by July 7th. Thirdly, Grayson Allen is another piece Memphis gets in the deal, and with Morant as the floor general and Jaren Jackson Jr. as the defensive anchor, Allen will be in position to excel with the Grizzlies currently having ample opportunity to get minutes at shooting guard.

Grayson is a very capable shooter and confident scorer, so with Morant creating easy baskets and fastbreak opportunities, Grayson can become a fan favorite in Memphis. His boyish charm and charisma can create even more marketing opportunities for a small-market team, who has seen marketing opportunities come mainly at a premium.

The main components of the Conley trade for Memphis are the cap space created by trading the 12-season veteran point guard plus the first-round draft picks. Memphis will have enormous cap space in 2020, likely enough to acquire two max free agents or to absorb unwanted contracts in exchange for more future draft picks.

I like to see cap space as the keys to a team’s soul. This gives Memphis ultra flexibility and leverage to create a path of their own. The 2019 NBA Draft is starting to really gain a buzz, especially for the middle of the draft, which is exactly where the pick from the Jazz will be at 23rd overall.

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This is a value draft where there could be several steals in the middle and latter parts of the draft. There will be at least one top-10 talent likely to fall to that 23rd pick. Even if not, there will be ample opportunities to add much needed shooting and frontcourt help within a draft loaded with high floor shooters and forwards.

With the Grizzlies adding guys like Rich Cho and Glen Grunwald in the Front Office, it is almost certain that they will pick stellar talent in 2019 and beyond. These two guys are nice to have in the draft war room. The future first-round draft pick Memphis also gets from the Jazz may be the best piece of the deal. The future pick is No. 8-14 protected for both the 2020 and 2021 drafts, which is fine because Utah will be a playoff team anyway with Conley under contract the next two seasons with Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, and Rudy Gobert. However, one can reasonably suspect a substantial decline from a high-mileage 35-year-old Conley by then, along with an older, limited big man in Gobert.

If the Utah pick is conveyed in 2022, where it is only No. 1-6 protected at the earliest projected date, that means the Grizzlies get a potential lottery pick in the expected “double draft” which is when high school prospects are expected to be deemed eligible to enter the NBA Draft and thus double the draft class talent and place Memphis in golden position.

If nothing else, this trade accelerated the Grizzlies’ rebuild and gave them flexibility to make many trades they were not able to just 24 hours ago while giving themselves ample cap space once C.J. Miles at $8 million, Chandler Parsons at $25 million, and Crowder at roughly $7 million per year all come off the books. Not to mention Conley gets sent to a contender in the West, where he will also have the spotlight on him to get them over the hump as serious championship contenders.

Overall, I give the trade a grade of an A for Memphis getting several assets and huge flexibility. I also surprisingly give a  A- trade grade to the Jazz getting their guy and the PERFECT complement to rising stars in Mitchell and Gobert, who are already contending. The Grizzlies are already starting to see better days and the 2019 NBA Draft has yet to happen.