In an August 7 episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Bill Simmons and cohort from The Ringer Ryen Rusillo discussed the concept of the NBA adding two new expansion teams to the league. Per NBA guidelines, in such an event each existing club must protect eight of their own players and make the rest eligible for an expansion draft. Unsurprisingly considering their depth, the first team they discussed was the Memphis Grizzlies.
Both Simmons and Rusillo agreed that the obvious choices for GM Zach Kleiman to hold onto were the four of Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane, and Marcus Smart.
However, beyond them, the choice of specific players who would be deemed safe to reside in the remaining four spots is certainly up for debate.
Who could the Grizzlies surprisingly make eligible for an expansion draft?
No matter how the front office opted to address such a scenario, considering there are 12 more players outside of the ones already mentioned that are found attached to contracts this coming season, fans would be bound to find a few shocking names left unprotected.
With this in mind, today we discuss three talents, in specific, who could surprisingly be made eligible for a hypothetical expansion draft.