If you’re not familiar with the Memphis Grizzlies‘ most recent trade with the Los Angeles Clippers, I’d recommend you check that out before diving into this article. In short, Memphis re-traded Eric Bledsoe in exchange for Patrick Beverley and Rajon Rondo. In addition, they brought in Daniel Oturu, a promising second-year big.
This trade should go a long way for the Grizzlies down the road, as they got Eric Bledsoe off of the books and picked up a pair of expiring contracts. That said, this trade will also have a ripple effect across the entire team, throwing some players’ futures into question.
Today, I’m going to go over the three Grizzlies most affected by the trade with the Los Angeles Clippers, starting with a positive.
Bonus: Memphis Grizzlies PG Ja Morant now has two potential mentors for the 2021-22 season
I’m considering this a bonus slide because I already wrote an entire post about Patrick Beverley and Rajon Rondo’s potential impact on Ja Morant’s 2021-22 season. Still, this was worth a mention.
Morant is a young point guard and up until this point in his career, he hasn’t had a real mentor to work with at the NBA level — at least not at the point guard position. He’s been surrounded by players like Tyus Jones and De’Anthony Melton, both of whom are young players themselves.
The first taste that Morant got of a veteran point guard pushing him to be his best was when the Grizzlies signed Tim Frazier, a reserve guard who was more of a leader than a basketball player. It’s hard to draw a direct parallel between Frazier’s presence and Morant’s success but it seemed like the veteran ball-handler had a huge impact on Morant. This, in turn, may have led to the Grizzlies wanting to bring in a veteran point guard behind Morant.
Ja will benefit hugely from the presence of Beverley and/or Rondo, both of whom are specialists in their own right in this league. It’s hard to see this situation resulting in anything outside of Morant becoming a better passer or defender.
But Ja is far from the most impacted Grizzlies player in this trade.