NBA Trade Deadline 2018: 5 Conley or Gasol trades the Grizzlies have to consider
After seven straight playoff appearances, the kings of Grit and Grind will likely miss out on postseason basketball this year. What potential Conley and Gasol trades should they be listening to?
The Memphis Grizzlies are currently tied for second to last in the Western Conference win column with a lowly 15 wins and haven’t looked particularly competent on either end of the floor. Although analysts have consistently underestimated the Grizzlies over the past two seasons, the sun finally seems to be setting on the most successful era in Grizzlies history. With Mike Conley battling Achilles issues and Marc Gasol struggling mightily on the court, the team is unraveling at the seams.
Memphis’ prospects for future success now seem especially bleak. Conley is only in year two of a five-year, $152 million contract and Gasol in year three of a five-year deal worth $113 million. That’s a boatload of money to pay for two guys that are on the wrong side of 30 and have worrisome injury histories. Although the Grizzlies can compete with almost anyone when those two guys are on the floor at full strength, their ability to stay healthy and play at a high level is diminishing. With the massive, virtually untradable, Chandler Parsons contract clogging the books Memphis has little flexibility to improve its roster as matters currently stand. Now seems like the right time to bottom out.
A long term rebuild would of course be risky in a market like Memphis; a decade might pass before the Grizzlies reach the playoffs again. Memphis might not have any better options though. The Grizzlies owe a 2019 top-eight protected first round pick to the Celtics (per RealGM). The stringency of protection on that pick decreases substantially if it rolls over, and by 2021 it becomes totally unprotected. Tanking now would ensure that the Grizzlies maximize their odds of acquiring some high end talent in the draft before having to concede a pick to Boston.
Although the franchise has stubbornly maintained that it won’t trade either one of its stars. Not listening to legit offers at this point would be downright negligent however, especially given the difficulty of trading such hefty contracts. Of course trading either guy, or both, would be painful for the proud Grizzlies franchise. But here are a handful of potential trades that might make parting ways more palatable.