Following the Memphis Grizzlies' annual Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day game victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Houston Rockets lost to the Detroit Pistons to pull the Grizzlies within 0.5 games of the two seed in the Western Conference.
The MLK Day win was the Grizzlies' fifth consecutive on the holiday, third straight win overall, and second consecutive win over the Minnesota Timberwolves after defeating them just last Saturday night on January 11th.
Their holiday victory also provided Memphis with their 28th win of the season, which is already one more than their win total from the 2023-24 season. The Grizzlies' three-game winning streak capped off their toughest stretch of the season with 11 consecutive games against the top 12 (playoff/play-in contending) teams in the Western Conference.
They completed that stretch with a 6-5 record while they missed Ja Morant and Santi Aldama for six of those games. They also returned GG Jackson on January 20th after not playing the entire season due to recovery from a broken foot.
While the team's depth has been its best asset this season, General Manager Zach Kleiman has been busy working the trade lines to upgrade their wing position with a veteran. The team has the assets available to make a deal work for a potential upgrade in that area but Kleiman hasn't done what will probably need to be done in previous trade deadlines.
Kleiman doesn't trade his first round picks
The past three seasons have been seasons when the Memphis Grizzlies have either entered the season with a team expected to contend for a title or became a surprise contender. Last season's slate fell flat after Ja Morant's 25-game suspension followed by a historic level of injuries that forced the team to play the most players ever in one season.
However, Zach Kleiman has notoriously been one who doesn't make the splash move or trade his first-round picks in moves around the margins near the trade deadline. The only time he has dealt first-round picks has happened in the summer.
He dealt their two first-round picks to trade up to draft Jake LaRavia during the 2022 draft, only to require another first-round pick to draft David Roddy in the same draft just moments later. He also traded away a first-round pick they acquired from the Golden State Warriors for 2024 to the Boston Celtics to land Marcus Smart in 2023.
Their trade deadline deals had consisted of them trading a couple of second-round picks for Luke Kennard in 2022, and recouping second-round picks in 2023 deals when they traded away Xavier Tillman and David Roddy.
Kleiman's refusal to include an unprotected first-round pick and requiring a return of a second-round pick might have hurt their chance at acquiring Dorian Finney-Smith from the Brooklyn Net last month.
With the Grizzlies having all their first-round picks at their disposal and hearing their names linked to the likes of Cam Johnson and Jimmy Butler, something will have to give if the Grizzlies want to make the splash move that could solidify their championship contention status this season.