The Memphis Grizzlies have been among the most active teams in the NBA during the 2025 offseason. In the process, Memphis has perhaps inadvertently declared what their future will hold—and what their priorities will be.
Some might question why the Grizzlies have allocated their resources where they have, but the franchise has made it clear that it's built to win—today and tomorrow.
Memphis began the offseason by trading franchise shooting guard Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic for a draft-heavy return. A key player joining the Grizzlies, however, is two-time NBA champion and 3-and-D specialist Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
Caldwell-Pope has experienced his share of ebbs and flows as far as three-point shooting is concerned, but he's shot 38.3 percent or better from distance in six of the past eight seasons.
Caldwell-Pope will now join a team that's been knocking on the door, but has perhaps lacked the veteran leadership to open it. Losing Bane will be tough to overcome, but the Grizzlies' priorities are clear and their intention to build a sustainable product is practical.
Free agency has only hammered that point home—and requires fans to remember what the recently signed and re-signed players will be coming back to.
Grizzlies continue to build for the future while having enough talent to win now
Memphis has already re-signed Santi Aldama, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Cam Spencer. Jackson signed a massive five-year, $240 million contract, while Aldama inked a three-year deal worth $52.5 million and Spencer agreed to a two-year, $4.5 million bargain.
It also added one of the best bench scorers in the NBA, Ty Jerome, at a bargain price of three years and just $28 million.
Aldama and Jackson represent a promising future at power forward and center. Jackson is a former Defensive Player of the Year who has averaged at least 22.2 points per game during each of the past two seasons—and is still just 25 years of age.
Aldama, meanwhile, is one of the fastest-rising stretch bigs in the NBA after averaging 12.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.8 three-point field goals made per game on .483/.368/.691 shooting in 2024-25.
Jerome, meanwhile, is coming off of a season in which he averaged 22.7 points per 36 minutes on .516/.439/.872 shooting. He'll join a team that already has All-NBA point guard Ja Morant, 2024-25 All-Rookie First Team honorees Zach Edey and Jaylen Wells, and rising force Scotty Pippen Jr.
As if that weren't enough, incoming rookie Cedric Coward has extreme untapped potential and GG Jackson II still has two rookie-scale years left on his contract.
Compounded by the fact that the Grizzlies still have three unprotected first-round draft picks and a pick swap coming from the Bane trade, the franchise is an excellent position to sustain its excellence. That's especially intriguing when one considers Memphis has won at least 48 games in three of the past four seasons—and the only exception was when Ja Morant was limited to nine games in 2023-24.
The Grizzlies may have paid top dollar for Aldama and Jackson, but with a bargain contract for Jerome and a surplus of promising young pieces, the franchise is still in a position to win.