The Grizzlies played a wonderful brand of basketball in their Summer League win. Could it be a glimpse of the team's future?
The Memphis Grizzlies didn't just win their Summer League opener Saturday. They dominated it.
The final score was 111-74 over the Oklahoma City Thunder at Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City. These weren't the 2024-25 NBA champion Thunder, of course. This was Oklahoma City's Summer League roster. Still, a 37-point win is hard to dismiss in any context, and it wasn't just the margin that stood out. It was the way Memphis won.
Grizzlies Feature Ball Movement in Dominant Win
The Grizzlies finished with 33 total assists in a game that runs only 40 minutes in Summer League play. That's a heavy assist total for that kind of window.
Javon Small accounted for 9 of them, adding 11 points in the process. Small is making a case for himself as a long-term rotation piece in Memphis. He's a 6-foot-1 guard who shot 42.3% from 3-point range a season ago, and if he's as capable a playmaker as he looked Saturday, he profiles as a real NBA player.
Much of the offense still ran through Cameron Boozer. The No. 3 overall pick finished with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting and 4 assists in 24 minutes in his Summer League debut. The assist total alone doesn't capture it, either. Boozer made several passes throughout the game that didn't directly lead to a bucket but still showed the maturity of his decision-making.
It looked like a glimpse of the identity Grizzlies fans can expect going forward.
Grizzlies Should Lean Into Motion Offense
The league's best motion offenses tend to share one trait: a strong passer in the frontcourt. That skill is expected out of the backcourt, but surplus playmaking up front is what allows a team to overwhelm defenses.
Boozer showed a real feel for big-to-big passing Saturday, a hallmark of motion offense at its best, and the version of the Grizzlies that showed up in Salt Lake City looked like a sign of what's coming for the franchise.
The picture will change once Boozer is surrounded by Memphis' full roster. It could change for the better. Passing the ball to Zach Edey in the right spots raises the odds of the shot falling, and it's still unclear who else will be part of that mix long-term. Karim Lopez sat out Saturday's game with a mild hamstring strain that will keep him out of the entire Salt Lake City slate, and passing at his size is also part of his scouting profile.
Boozer has the tools to be a star in this league, and playmaking should be a central part of his game. If Small can carve out a real NBA role and the Grizzlies surround Boozer with other capable passers like Lopez, Saturday's performance could be an early look at the identity Memphis builds toward for years to come. The Grizzlies could be doing this to regular-season opponents sooner than people expect.
