Grizzlies offer for this Brooklyn Nets player revealed

The Grizzlies were thought to have played it safe this trade deadline, but it turns out the asking price was just far too steep for the players they were targeting. Here are the details of their biggest offer at the deadline.

The Grizzlies had a lackluster trade deadline compared to some of their Western Conference rivals, but it looks like it wasn’t due to a lack of trying. A reported trade offer was made by Memphis to the Brooklyn Nets for wing Mikal Bridges, who they just acquired thanks to the Kevin Durant trade. Many assumed that Bridges could be moved in a secondary trade to accumulate even more assets, but he is still a young enough player that it would make sense to keep him as well.

They decided he was more valuable to them as a player than as a trade piece, turning down the Grizzlies reported offer of four first-round picks. It isn’t known how heavily protected the picks were, but giving up four firsts of any kind is a lot for a non-star player. Despite the trade falling through, what does this offer say about how the Grizzlies front office views the current squad?

Grizzlies showed aggressive approach for first time in years

The initial reaction to the Grizzlies deadline was disappointing, especially considering all the crazy trades that happened across the rest of the NBA. Luke Kennard was certainly a good fit and at a fair price, but would it be enough to change the trajectory of their season? Probably not. The news that they did try and make a big move for Mikal Bridges indicates a substantial change in philosophy by the front office.

Zach Kleiman and the rest of his staff have taken a methodical approach for the past five years while building the Grizzlies current core. Draft capital has been very important to them because of that philosophy. Hearing that they offered all those picks in exchange for an outside player is a huge shift in approach, but a needed one if they want to go from playoff contender to championship hopeful. Even though it didn’t happen this time, it will hopefully mean that the Grizzlies are willing to be more aggressive this off-season.

I don’t want to count them out this year quite yet, but between their recent performance and the rest of the West loading up for the playoffs, it will be a steep hill to climb. No matter how things play out though, the Grizzlies will always be fun if nothing else.