The Grizzlies are inching closer to reaching a buyout agreement with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. But now, Chris Haynes is reporting that Caldwell-Pope plans to team up with LeBron James, who just signed with the Philadelphia 76ers. It's no secret that the Grizzlies already faced a roster crunch, but it now appears that LeBron's 'last decision' sparked a crucial offseason domino for the team.
A buyout looked like the most likely outcome earlier this month, but it will be interesting to see Kentavious Caldwell-Pope team up with LeBron James again after having won the 2020 NBA Finals together. Caldwell-Pope will go from a rebuilding squad in Memphis to a 76ers team that now looks strong enough on paper to potentially win the Eastern Conference.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Memphis Grizzlies are negotiating a buyout and the veteran 3-&-D specialist intends to team back up with LeBron James and sign with the Philadelphia 76ers, league sources tell me. pic.twitter.com/938uLLvV2g
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 25, 2026
The remaining roster crunch gets started with KCP
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was acquired by the Grizzlies in the Desmond Bane trade and was mainly a salary filler for the deal. He was also a longtime veteran 3-and-D player with championship experience, which made perfect sense to target him. However, he struggled mightily as a shooter in Orlando, and those struggles carried over to Memphis.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope appeared in 51 games for the Grizzlies and made 14 starts before being benched in favor of rising talent Cedric Coward. Caldwell-Pope averaged 8.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.7 assists but shot just 31.6% from behind the arc. Caldwell-Pope is still serviceable on the defensive end and can provide some bench scoring, but it's clear that he is past his best days.
When factoring in that he was set to make $21.6 million this upcoming season and that the Grizzlies are very early into a rebuild, it made sense for both parties to split. While there was some early optimism to find a trade partner, a buyout should likely be finalized fairly soon.
Despite a quiet period after the six-team trade was finalized, it looks like LeBron's decision should lead to more roster movement for the Grizzlies. Similar to Caldwell-Pope, D'Angelo Russell and the Grizzlies are expected to split, whether it's a buyout or they find a trade partner.
The Grizzlies still have to make decisions on multiple players such as Kris Murray, AJ Johnson, and Taj Gibson so that they can get to 15 roster spots. Cam Boozer has signed his rookie deal, but Karim Lopez has yet to sign, and the Grizzlies could end up stashing Richie Saunders as he recovers from an ACL tear.
This has been a very busy offseason for the Grizzlies, and it looks like they're far from done. They must clear roster spots, and they have even registered trade interest in other players such as Jordan Hawkins. The Kentavious Caldwell-Pope news should be the first domino of the remaining roster crunch in Memphis that should take place in the coming days.
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