What this trade means for the Memphis Grizzlies
Aside from the Grizzlies moving up in this year’s draft, this trade basically means the end of Justise Winslow’s time in Memphis. The now 6-year veteran was moved to Memphis last February in a deal that sent Andre Iguodala, Jae Crowder and Solomon Hill to the Miami Heat, a trade that worked out in Miami’s favor seeing as they made the NBA Finals in 2020.
Justise Winslow has a $13M team option for the 2021-22 season, but a source has told NBA Analysis Network that the Grizzlies intend to decline said option unless they are able to move the 25-year-old wing before his August 1 deadline, which seems highly unlikely to happen.
Going back to the draft, Memphis now owns the No. 10 picks in this year’s draft and they may not be done trying to move up yet. Josh Giddey and Moses Moody seem like two players they could potentially target with this No. 10 pick, but Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer reports that the Grizzlies are interested in potentially moving up again in order to have a shot at drafting either James Bouknight or Jonathan Kuminga.
Memphis now has a higher first-round picks and a higher second-round pick that they could offer up potential trade talks to move up even higher in the draft and they also could leverage Eric Bledsoe, but it seems unlikely that another team would be wanting to take on his $18.1M contract for the 2021-22 season.
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New Orleans had a lot of trouble finding a potential suitor for him given his contract, which is why Memphis would likely have to buy him out if they wanted to get him off their roster.
Getting Steven Adams in place of Jonas Valanciunas does cost the Grizzlies more money, but Adams can do a lot of the same things Valanciunas could do for this offense. He can set screens, be a “bruiser-like” center in the paint and will especially thrive in pick-and-roll situations with Ja Morant.
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At the cost of $3M more than Valanciunas for next season and the fact that Memphis moved up to No. 10 overall in the draft, bringing in Steven Adams was a very solid move by the Grizzlies front-office.
The Grizzlies are expected to continue in their efforts to potentially move up in the draft and as for Eric Bledsoe, time will tell if he will be a member of this organization for opening night in October. This trade is not official until August 6, giving the Grizzlies time to potentially get a third or fourth team involved to move the veteran guard.
