Fansided

NBA teams with the most to gain and lose in the 2018 Draft

By Jeremy Morris

SECAUCUS, NJ - MAY 20: A general view of the 2008 NBA Draft Lottery at the NBATV Studios on May 20, 2008 in Secaucus, New Jersey. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2008 NBAE (Photo by Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE via Getty Images)
SECAUCUS, NJ - MAY 20: A general view of the 2008 NBA Draft Lottery at the NBATV Studios on May 20, 2008 in Secaucus, New Jersey. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2008 NBAE (Photo by Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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1. Memphis Grizzlies (18-45)

2018 Picks

  • First Round — projected No. 3 – 6 overall
  • Second Round (from Charlotte/Miami via three-team trade) — projected 35th-38th overall
  • Second Round (from Charlotte/Miami via three-team trade) — projected 39th-42nd overall

Marc Gasol is a three-time All-Star and former Defensive Player of the Year. Mike Conley is an All-Star caliber point guard (behind Steph Curry, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook) who averaged 20.5 points and 6.3 assists last year when healthy.

They led Memphis to six-straight playoff appearances prior to this season. Over the last three years with both in the lineup, the Grizz are 65-53. With one or both not playing, the team’s record is 35-65.

Conley is 30 and Gasol is 33 and their window is closing.

Dillon Brooks, who the Grizzlies acquired from Houston in last year’s draft, has been the lone bright spot this year. Gasol and Conley account for $50 million of the team’s salary. Chandler Parsons, who has only played in 61 games the past two seasons, accounts for another $24 million.

All three are under contract through 2019-20 and Conley has an early termination option the following year.

What may loom larger than the team’s lack of cap room the next two years is the fact that the Grizzlies’ minority ownership group exercised a buy-sell clause in 2017. It gives majority owner, Robert Pera, the choice of buying out the minority owners’ shares or selling the team.

Pera is the founder and CEO of Ubiquiti Networks which is currently under an SEC investigation for questionable accounting practices. He and other executives were issued subpoenas in February as part of the investigation causing the company’s stock to drop by 30 percent.

Rober Pera, 39, is one of the world’s youngest billionaires according to Forbes.  But with the Grizzlies being one of the teams that did not turn a profit last year (in a season that saw the team make the playoffs) and Ubiquiti in hot water, there is reason for concern regarding the team and its owner’s financial standing.

Memphis is one of the league’s smallest markets so any time selling a team is a possibility, its cause for concern. Pera will have to make a decision on buying out the team’s minority owners next season and depending on the outcome of investigations into Ubiquiti, his ownership of the team may be in jeopardy.

Next: The Encyclopedia of Modern Moves

In short, the Grizz need a franchise-altering player for the sake of Gasol and Conley and for the sake of the team’s profitability for Pera or a potential new owner who may or may not be inclined to look to a larger market to plant an NBA franchise.

The Grizzlies seem to understand the magnitude of this draft as they’ve lost 14 straight and gone from projecting in the No. 5 – 8 range to being the team most likely to receive the number one overall pick (or they’re just that bad). Regardless, for a myriad of reasons beyond their current roster and typical concerns of an NBA team, the Grizzlies need to do something they haven’t done since 2001 — draft and keep a perennial All Star (Pau Gasol was the last time this happened for Memphis).

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