The Grizzlies' top priority this offseason was to renegotiate Jaren Jackson Jr.'s upcoming expiring contract and extend him. They accomplished just that as NBA free agency opened up with them agreeing on a five-year, $240 million contract extension with their All-Star forward to confirm the future of their core players.
Following Jackson Jr.'s extension, Memphis avoided losing Santi Aldama in restricted free agency by signing him to a three-year, $52.5 million deal to retain their top bench performer, and returning third-leading scorer following Desmond Bane's exit. With Zach Edey expected to miss the beginning of the 2025-26 season following ankle surgery, the Grizzlies needed to ensure they locked up their frontcourt for the foreseeable future.
On a lesser note, but important to the Grizzlies' developmental system, they signed second-year guard Cam Spencer to a two-year, $4.5 million fully guaranteed contract to promote the former two-way prospect and 2024 second-round draft pick. With this flurry of moves, the Grizzlies' work isn't completed as they have to obtain additional cap space to finalize them.
The Grizzlies must clear at least $10 million of salary
Since the time Jaren Jackson Jr. didn't make an All-NBA team and was eliminated from the possibility of securing a supermax contract, the Grizzlies have known they had to shed salary to renegotiate and extend him with cap room. The team initially prepared for this reality at the trade deadline when they traded away Marcus Smart's $23 million for expiring deals to clear the books.
However, to guarantee a larger contract amount for their forward, more had to be done. However, the Grizzlies added on salary with the Desmond Bane trade, due to adding a first-round pick in this year's draft. They proceeded to trade up in the first round to select Cedric Coward, which cut into their salary cap space even more.
Now, the team has agreed to retain three pieces of the core and needs to shed $10 million to fulfill their existing agreements. Cole Anthony has been a name to monitor as the Grizzlies selected guard Javon Small in the second round of the NBA draft, and have been linked to free agent guard Ty Jerome for their $8.8 million mid-level exception slot.
Zach Kleiman successfully negotiated deals to keep his identified core in place, but more has to be done for those deals to be official. Memphis took over the early free agency news cycle, and it won't be the last time they are heard from.