The Memphis Grizzlies’ silence in free agency is expected
Right now, the Memphis Grizzlies don’t have very many priorities in free agency. The team will likely want to trade away Eric Bledsoe, as they announced that he wouldn’t last on the team’s roster immediately after he was brought over in a trade. That said, there isn’t an obvious move to be made here.
Memphis could simply eat up the $4 million that is guaranteed on his contract, but what is left do to on this roster? Currently, the Grizz have 16 players, one over the league’s maximum allowance. Somebody is going to go, why not let it be the Bledsoe and keep the team’s remaining nucleus intact?
The Memphis Grizzlies only have one move to make in free agency and it’s not time-sensitive
Because of this, the Grizzlies don’t really have anything time-sensitive to get around to. They’ll likely continue to enquire about a trade involving Eric Bledsoe or Steven Adams. The goal? Acquire more first-round picks… I guess.
At this point, it seems like the Grizzlies’ front office has made it abundantly clear that they have a single goal in mind — keep rebuilding and working toward the future, even if it stands to work against present-day success. They did this when they traded away Jonas Valanciunas, who, despite having flaws, was easily a top-5 center in the NBA.
In turn, this made it clear that Memphis had one goal after this year’s NBA Draft — extend Jaren Jackson Jr.
With virtually every player that the Grizzlies plan to have on the roster over the next few years on the verge of a payday, it wouldn’t make sense to make any signings this offseason. Instead, the Grizzlies are going to bet on their ability to draft strong talent and continue to work toward signing their guys in the future.
In the next two seasons, we can expect to see Jaren Jackson Jr. and Ja Morant inked to long-term deals. Dillon Brooks will likely get a payday down the road. Anybody outside of those two names still has to prove themselves to stick around on this Memphis roster.
So even though it may be a slightly boring offseason, there’s no reason fans should expect anything else. If anything, Memphis will sign a veteran guard on a relatively small contract to bolster their roster for the upcoming season. Even so, it seems like they’re relatively committed to continuing a rebuild, even after making the NBA Playoffs.
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The only thing that could throw a curveball into this year’s plans depends entirely on what the NBA sees Eric Bledsoe and Steven Adams’ value as. If Memphis got those guys off of the roster, they may be able to make a last-second free agency pickup.