Grizzlies believed to have regret for not trading veteran guard at deadline

Despite not having any real expectations, the Memphis Grizzlies proved to be quite active during this year's trade season, as they opted to partake in selective selling in an attempt to cut down on their future salary commitments and add to their asset collection in the process.

From their move to send Steven Adams Houston bound to the trade that shipped sophomore David Roddy to the Phoenix Suns, with his decision-making it was rather evident that GM Zach Kleiman was willing to make any number of moves ahead of the February 8 cutoff and did not discriminate against offloading any of the team's non-core talents.

However, when looking back on the transactions executed, some may argue that the front office missed on making a few key shakeups, with Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley going as far as to suggest that the Grizzlies may regret not parting ways with the likes of veteran sharpshooter, Luke Kennard.

B/R argues Grizzlies likely wish they traded Luke Kennard at deadline

"Sure, his trade value wouldn't have been overwhelming, but it couldn't have been too hard trying to convince win-now shoppers to take interest in a 6'5" shooter with a career 43.9 percent splash rate.

While his stroke is theoretically helpful for next season's squad, there may not be a ton of minutes to go around in a guard group already featuring Ja Morant, Marcus Smart and Desmond Bane. Flipping Kennard for a draft pick or two could've helped Memphis seek out similar shooting at a more helpful spot."

Zach Buckley

During the months leading up to the deadline, rumors had begun to surface suggesting that Kennard could be a highly sought-after commodity on the trade block, with HoopsHype's Michael Scotto going as far as to report that he was "a player rival teams are keeping an eye on."

One of the game's premier marksmen, with two-guard boasts a career shooting clip of 43.9 percent from beyond the arc and, since landing with the Grizzlies at last year's trade cutoff, has upped this number to a whopping 49.3 percent on 5.9 attempts per game.

This season alone the veteran finds himself posting impressive averages of 10.9 points, 3.0 assists, and 2.9 rebounds on 45.5 percent shooting from deep, all contributions that could prove to be incredibly beneficial for win-now teams looking for backcourt and perimeter scoring help.

While his $14.7 million salary may have been a bit hard to convince teams to bring on, for the right price coming in the form of "an asset or two," as Buckley suggested in his piece, offloading him ahead of the deadline likely could have been doable had Memphis really wanted to do so.

In all likelihood, Kennard will be a name to watch out for within trade rumors during the upcoming summer months, as he'll be heading into the final year of his contract and, considering the slew of new quality shooters the Grizzlies seemingly have (Vince Williams Jr., GG Jackson, Yuta Watanabe), will be rather easy to replace within the rotation.