2 Winners, 1 loser from Grizzlies recent re-signing of Luke Kennard

Loser: Luke Kennard

Labeling Luke Kennard as a "loser" is not us pointing our fingers and casting insults in the veteran's direction. Instead, it's simply us suggesting that his value is worth more than $11 million.

Originally, when his $14.7 million option for 2024-25 was declined, it was a wide-spread belief that both he and the Grizzlies would be working on a mutually beneficial deal that would save the franchise money in the short-term but provide the wing with more financial security in the long-run.

While the first certainly happened, as they shed roughly $3.7 million off this season's projected payroll, the latter fell well short of coming to fruition, as he's only locked down for the next season before he has to go through this whole process again.

The interesting thing about all of this is the fact that Kennard very likely could have received a far more lucrative contract elsewhere on the open market.

Considering other role players around the league such as Isaiah Hartenstein (three-year, $87 million with OKC) and Buddy Hield (four years, $37.7 million with Golden State) managed to snag lofty new financial pacts in free agency, there's no reason to believe that the league's second-best three-point shooter from last season (45.0 percent) couldn't have fetched something in the ball-park of at least three-years, $30 million on the open market.

Now, should Grizzlies fans be complaining about the recent commitment made to and by Kennard? Absolutely not!

However, it's still a bit odd to see one of the game's greatest long-range shooters of all time agreeing to take a $3.7 million pay-cut for a one-year deal.