NBA Executive Says Grizzlies Could Be Sitting On Next Blockbuster Trade

A Western Conference executive named the Memphis Grizzlies as the team he expects to be most active on the trade market this season, in a survey of league executives by Heavy's Sean Deveney.

Deveney asked executives from each conference a set of questions about the coming trade season. The Memphis answer came in response to which team will be busy before the deadline.

Memphis is carrying 19 players on standard contracts. Regular-season rosters are capped at 15.

The executive pointed to the traded player exception Memphis created in the Jaren Jackson Jr. deal. The Grizzlies sent Jackson, John Konchar, Jock Landale, and Vince Williams Jr. to the Utah Jazz on Feb. 3 for Walter Clayton Jr., Kyle Anderson, Taylor Hendricks, Georges Niang, and three first-round picks. That trade generated a $28.87 million exception, the largest in league. It expires one year after the trade was finalized, which puts the deadline in early February.

The executive said the sense around the league is that Memphis will wait, see how the group develops, and make a move next summer.

"The Grizzlies, they don't get a lot of attention, but they are in a really good position," the executive said. "They have a ton of young size, they have plenty of room to make a move, they have the big TPE from Jaren Jackson (trade to Utah), they have a ton of picks (12 first-rounders, nine second-rounders). I think the sense is that they are going to wait, see how this group comes together, and make their move next summer. But the TPE expires, and if they get off to a good start, you know, you strike when the iron is hot."

Memphis has now traded all three of the players it built around after the 56-win 2021-22 season. Ja Morant went to the Portland Trail Blazers on June 29 for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray. Desmond Bane had gone to the Orlando Magic the previous summer. Memphis went 19-29 before the Jackson trade last season.

Cameron Boozer arrived as the No. 3 pick in June. Karim López went 21st and signed July 29.

On July 8, Memphis took part in a six-team trade that brought in Isaiah Stewart from the Detroit Pistons, D'Angelo Russell from the Washington Wizards, and AJ Johnson from the Dallas Mavericks. Santi Aldama went to Dallas in the same deal, along with the draft rights to Tarik Biberovic. Memphis also received a top-20 protected 2030 first-round pick from Dallas that originally belonged to the Golden State Warriors.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was waived July 25. Quinten Post signed July 8.

Elsewhere in the survey, an Eastern Conference executive named New Orleans Pelicans wing Trey Murphy as the player likely to draw the most trade calls again this season, a price the Bane trade helped set. Deveney wrote that Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Darius Garland were the other candidates for that spot depending on how their teams play.

The Jackson exception is one of several Memphis created in the February trade. Clayton and Niang were absorbed into the exception created by Konchar's outgoing salary, and Anderson went into the one generated by Landale and Williams.

Memphis has until the exception lapses in February to use it.