You won't believe who the Grizzlies' highest-paid available player is. It should tell you how much potential this group has.
Judge an NBA team by its payroll.
Seriously. If your team is performing poorly, look at the salary table. If you see a number of guys getting paid well, you've got a right to complain. The team is underperforming.
If those high salaries are sidelined, it's a different story. Carrying dead salary has never been a recipe for success. If your best available players are low-money guys - well, you're likely to get what you're paying for.
Just ask the Memphis Grizzlies.
Per HoopsHype, an astonishing 91% of the Grizzlies' payroll is currently sidelined. Who is their highest-paid available player?
That would be Walter Clayton Jr.
Yes, that's Walter Clayton Jr. He averages $4.8 million per season. If you're unfamiliar with NBA money, that is what we, in the business, call "low".
He's the team's ninth-highest player. If you're unfamiliar with math, that means the Grizzlies' eight highest-paid players are unavailable.
With that in mind, their recent performance is almost unbelievable.
The Grizzlies have won four of their last ten contests. If they were a contending team, that would be unfortunate. When they're led by Walter Clayton Jr., it's hard to call it anything but impressive.
That doesn't necessarily mean it's positive. At the risk of beating a dead horse, this team should probably be maximizing their lottery odds. Yes, we are once again talking about tanking.
Yet, it's hard to watch this group without enjoying it. The Grizzlies are spunky. They have a next-man-up mentality. If this team doesn't land a top-3 pick in the next draft, they will have other ways forward.
After all, Clayton may currently be their highest-paid player, but he's not their highest-performing one. That seems to vary nightly. GG Jackson II has been flashing star potential. Still, it was Jaylen Wells hanging an efficient 24 points on a defensively strong Portland Trail Blazers team two nights ago.
Can either be a franchise player? It's hard to say. It's unlikely that Clayton Jr. will reach that level, but he could be a long-term rotation player. Alongside Cedric Coward, Zach Edey, and others, he could be part of a Grizzlies team that wins games based on their depth. The major takeaway here should be that, even without top players available to suit up, the Grizzlies look like an NBA team.
When your highest-paid available player is Walter Clayton Jr., that's pretty incredible.