This past offseason, the Memphis Grizzlies decided to let sharpshooter Luke Kennard walk away in free agency. Kennard signed a one-year, $11 million contract with the Atlanta Hawks on July 8th. Six days later, on July 14th, Memphis announced its long-term commitment to Cam Spencer. Spencer signed a 4-year, $10.5 million contract, which includes three fully guaranteed seasons. This was a restructuring of a prior two-year deal the Grizzlies had signed with Spencer after he completed his rookie season on a two-way contract.
Memphis’ front office and fans alike grew frustrated with Kennard’s lack of defensive ability, inconsistent play, and most importantly, his unwillingness to shoot more threes. Kennard’s main objective in Memphis was to space the floor with his marksmanship, but he spent a lot of his time in Memphis passing up open threes and pump-faking defenders with little to no plan afterwards.
Despite being a career 43.9% shooter from the three-point line, Kennard was never able to fulfill his role to its maximum potential for Memphis. However, Spencer has the opportunity to pick up where Kennard left off.
Not being scared of the moment.
Spencer has the skill set to do what Kennard did well, plus add his overall skill set to the table. Spencer is a known defensive menace. He was billed as such coming out of UCONN, and kept that same energy going into the season. He is a very capable shooter. He famously shot 12-15 from three on route to a 51-point performance for the Memphis Hustle in the G League last season. He also had a great showing in his breakout game last year against the Phoenix Suns when he shot 4-7 from three, leading to a then-career-high 16 points.
In that game, he showed he had the “grizzly bear” mindset that General Manager Zach Kleiman attributed to him. He famously had a war of words with future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant after Spencer hit a three-pointer in the face of Durant during a closeout. Spencer also hit a pair of clutch free throws late in the fourth quarter to seal that late-season win.
Admittedly, looking at his stats, Spencer’s number doesn't jump off the page. In limited action through 25 games, Spencer averaged 4.2 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 1.4 assists on 41.5% from the field and 36.5% from three. However, looking at his PER 36 minutes stats, they tell a slightly different story.
In PER 36 minutes, Spencer averaged 15.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game. These numbers show that, in limited action, he’s consistently impacting the game positively. Looking at his G League stats, in a bigger role, he continued the trend of solid play. In eight G-League games, Spencer averaged 23.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.5 assists on a stellar 53.8% from the field and 49.3% from three for the Hustle.
Spencer has shown he has the talent and mentality to be a true contributor for the Grizzlies. He won’t play in front of other guards on the roster, such as Ja Morant, Ty Jerome, Scottie Pippen Jr., or Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. However, with the departure of Kennard and being freed from the two-way shackles, he has the opportunity to show his full skill set as a combo guard.