Projected landing spots for remaining Grizzlies free agents

This summer, the Memphis Grizzlies find several players from their 2023-24 campaign residing on the open market as NBA Free Agency trudges along.

Considering they're only about $22 million away from exceeding the league's first tax apron (set at $178.1 million), it's all but safe to assume that the majority of these individuals who currently find themselves off the team's payroll will likely be donning a new team's threads come the start of next season.

Potential landing spots for remaining Grizzlies free agents

Though it's already been decided that Yuta Watanabe will be leaving the States and is expected to join the Chiba Jets of the JBL Super League, still available and without any real indication of where their careers will take them are Luke Kennard, Lamar Stevens, and Jordan Goodwin.

With each of their free agency fates currently up in the air, let's take a look at where their next stops in their NBA journeys may be.

Lamar Stevens

If it weren't for the exceptional rookie campaign of GG Jackson, there would be a realistic argument to be made that Lamar Stevens should be a must-keep player moving forward.

A defensive-oriented, hustle-and-bustle brand of tweener forward still of the age of 26, in many ways the fourth-year veteran exemplifies the "Grit and Grind" play style that the Grizzlies have historically attracted.

Unfortunately for him, however, strategically it makes more sense to focus a bulk of their attention on developing a guy like Jackson and continuing to roll with the likes of Santi Aldama and, of course, Jaren Jackson Jr. within their primary forward rotation. In turn, re-signing Stevens could prove to be somewhat of an unnecessary redundancy from a rotational standpoint.

Projected landing spot: Phoenix Suns

With a minutes distribution of roughly 10-20 minutes a night, Stevens is a player who can help a win-now team thanks to his nitty-gritty skill set and willingness to do the dirty work.

With the fact that the cash-strapped Suns find themselves on the verge of potentially losing their own defensive-minded forward Josh Okogie, as he officially turned down his player option, perhaps replacing him with a cheaper version of a similar brand of baller could be highly enticing for this championship-hopeful squad.

With the Grizzlies this past season, Stevens posted impressive per-game averages of 11.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and just shy of a block in 23 minutes per game.