The Memphis Grizzlies Will Bounce Back Next Season: 2024 Free Agency/Offseason Series – Ep 19

The Memphis Grizzlies Will Bounce Back Next Season: 2024 Free Agency/Offseason Series – Ep 19

welcome back everyone I’m Yosi golin NBA salary cap expert and in this video I’m excited to talk about the Memphis Grizzlies a team that with good health should be right back in the playoff mix they already have a pretty deep roster the rotation is pretty set but they still need another big man to round things out so I want to go over all the different options they can potentially pursue at Center at all different salary ranges and see how they could fit their Capi but before I do please like And subscribe if you haven’t already so let’s take a quick look at the Grizzlies payroll so far see where things are at and the biggest thing I’ve noticed is that they have a very high payroll uh they’re already uh very close to $180 million which is above the 171.5 million luxury tax line and that is largely thanks to Desmond Bane’s max deal kicking in and it could have been even higher but they did get off of Steven Adams and David Rody uh during last year’s trade deadline who had money already for this year and the other thing to note is that they are currently above the $178.7 million first apron level and that makes things a little complicated for team building because if they remain above it they cannot take back more salary in a trade than they’re sending out and they have the lower tier mid-level exception instead of the $13 million one it would be at 5 million instead so they’re going to want to get below this first before they do anything else and overall the objective is as far as how they want the payroll to be they probably want it to be below that $171 million amount anyways I don’t think they’re going to want to be taxpayers this year considering they missed the playoffs last year largely thinks injuries but also got Lo they they got blown out in the first round of the playoffs uh two years ago and then the other thing to note is they have several trade exceptions however they do not have access to them at the moment because they’re over the first apron so the new CBA made it so that if you’re over the first apron level you cannot use older trade exceptions from a previous season so they’re currently locked out but they can unlock them once they get below that $178 million amount so here’s a more relevant payroll that the Grizzlies could be looking at I had them decrease payroll by doing a couple things one I declin Luke canard’s $4.8 million team option I think that’s very likely to happen they could uh decline it and extend them to a New Deal before free agency even begins but just to make things simple I’m going to assume they just decline it completely and then the other thing I did I had I took out UDA wab in his $2.7 million because he got a player option and there are reports that he’s going to go overseas so seems like he’s going to decline it so when you take out those two guys I now have them uh well below both the first apron and the luxury tax they’re about 13 million below the first apron and 7.8 million below the luxury tax line so now they can actually do stuff to improve the roster uh I would still though consider getting even more flexibility maybe offloading some other end of rotation guys like Dyer Williams Jake laravia Derrik Rose uh John conar may be too but I like him I think they should definitely try to keep him that’s a good deal uh but getting even more flexibility below this would allow them not only to get a more expensive Center but maybe even use the entire mid-level exception which I just opened up by U opening up more flexibility with this cap sheet and maybe they can even use some of the trade exceptions that they have so let’s start pursuing centers and with it being a couple days before the draft uh one of the more exciting scenarios is the possibility of Memphis moving up into the top three to select alexar or more likely Donovan kingan so it’s been kind of hard for me to try to put together a deal but I think the Grizzlies would probably either have to trade Marcus Smart or a future first round pick to get Houston motivated to move down personally I’m not the biggest fan of Marcus Smart on the Grizzlies given that smart and Bane are both making Max contract they just a very uh expensive back court to have Smart making $20 million as well but maybe you can move up uh with by trading him and maybe get a answer at the three as well so here’s something I came up with it brings in the number three in Dorian finy Smith to Memphis in a three- team trade that has uh the number nine going to Houston and they also get a first round pick from Brooklyn because they have a surplus of picks and then Brooklyn gets Marcus Smart because they’re trying to get better this year not the most perfect trade at all I highly doubt this even happens but now in this scenario the Grizzlies have the number three pick they have the they can draft Donovan clingin most likely and they get an answer at the three in Dorian finny Smith who’s making $15 million he helps their defensive identity and doesn’t need to take the ball away from a lot of their other guards so then they are well below the tax roughly a million so they can then fill up the rest of the roster and they should have enough room maybe they use a portion of their mid-level exception to pursue another guard with it so let’s say there is no opportunity to trade up which I think is a more likely scenario so the Grizzlies de side to pursue an upgrade at Center through trade which I don’t think should be hard to do and sounds like there’s going to be a lot of decent ones available there was a report from Yahoo sports yesterday about a lot of big Center names like Clint capella Brook Lopez just to name a few that could be available so just for this example I’m going to talk about Clint capella who makes a little over $20 million so he’s on the pricier side of the grizzly Center options and the Hawks may be ready to move on from him anyways uh they might be drafting another Center and they need to save money immediately and since he’s expiring it would be the easiest way to get immediate savings and since he’s on the last year of his deal the Grizzlies don’t have to commit to him they could try him out and they could easily extend him at any point next season and maybe try to get him at a lower amount to help fit the rest of the payroll structure so to make ma uh salaries match I had them send out zy Williams Eric Rose John conar maybe more teams are involved so the Hawks don’t have to take back uh some of those players if they don’t want them and as you can see I plugged in Clint capella and they have a pretty deep roster uh while keeping Marcus Smart and their ninth overall pick I don’t know what kind of asset the Grizzlies might have to trade uh to make this work maybe one future pick that’s super protected but their front court is pretty loaded now and their backt is set because they still have smart and since they’re keeping nine maybe they can try to select the highest upside Wing player available to them uh there’s some guys like Cody Williams Deon salon connect Ron Holland just to name a few I’m not a draft expert but in this type of scenario that’s where I could see them going now let’s say the grizzly want to go with a more affordable option at Center instead of like a $20 million guy they want someone making around like 13 million somewhere in the mid-level exception range and according to that same Yahoo sports report there was mentions of guys like Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Stewart being available uh so the Grizzlies could go after those guys and another thing they could do is try to sign a center with their mid-level exception but not a lot of great options out there uh they could now starting this year use the mid-level exception as a trade exception use it to absorb someone who’s making equal to or less than that amount starting at 12.9 million so for this example I’m going to go with robertt Williams who makes slightly less than uh Mitchell Robinson Isaiah Stewart so it would fit right into that mid-level exception uh now I know obviously the big issue with Robert Williams is his health just missed off last season and just struggle to stay on the court even before for then but when healthy I really do love his fit there um and alternatively they could just trade zy Williams straight up for Robert Williams which I think Memphis would probably be more interested in doing if they were seriously interested in acquiring him uh because then when you plug him in they finish right below the taxs while Fielding the entire roster and I want to get into my favorite Center option who’s kind of a surprise addition to the trade market Walker Kesler because according to Yahoo Sports in that same article the Jabs are listening to offers for him uh and just about any team that needs a center should jump on that try to get him main reason aside from his potential is that he still has two years left on his rookie contract so he’s going to be making virtually nothing over the next two years which in memphis’s case would help a lot with their payroll issues as they manage having two Max contracts and several other expensive players so the question is what would Utah need I would imagine they want a late future first something like in the 2030s cuz they want they’re trying to spread out their picks have as many uh over future years as possible that’s what they got when they traded Mitchell and goar so let’s say they trade a future first to Utah and then also swap number nine for number 29 which is owned by Utah uh just something I put together I don’t know if that’s enough I don’t know if that’s too much for Memphis uh they also get Utah to take on Derrick Rose so they just swapped those salaries and now again the Grizzlies have a super deep Rost but they have this loaded front Court already and they still have way more flexibility below the tax and the apron to do some other things maybe they want to use their mid-level exception on someone else so there you have it some realistic options at center for the Grizzlies in my opinion I think they have the flexibility to go for one of these more expensive options and the assets to go over someone as valuable as Walker kler the worst case scenario is that they’re not aggressive at all and maybe they just keep Brandon Clark and jiren Jackson at their main back uh front Court and then just pursue some uh backup options for the minimum maybe if a guy like cavon Looney is available they just sign him but obviously this aggressiveness would be a lot more fun let me know in the comments what you guys think let me know what centers you’d love to see the Grizzlies pursue if there’s some others I didn’t mention let me know maybe I could let you guys know how realistic uh that is and that how they could go ahead and pursue it

Things have only gone up for the Grizzlies since 2019 and the 2023 playoffs was a brutal reality check for them. And after just going through a gap year filled with injuries, it feels like the league has forgotten about them. They should be back in the playoff picture for the West just by being healthy. However, they do have some moves to make, particularly at center. They should be able to acquire any of the big men that are reportedly available on the trade market. I go over several scenarios where the Grizzlies get a new center, varying from the draft to expensive veterans.

0:00 Intro
0:25 Grizzlies 2024-25 payroll
2:02 How the Grizzlies can open up more trade flexibility
3:25 Scenario where the Grizzlies move up in the draft to select a center
4:55 Expensive center options like Clint Capela or Brook Lopez
6:34 More affordable center options
7:51 Walker Kessler scenario

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