NBA Trade Deadline 2019: One trade every team should make

The Grizzlies have officially decided to move on from the grit-n-grind era of Memphis basketball, putting Marc Gasol and Mike Conley Jr. on the trade block. While it may be a little too late to get great value from their two franchise cornerstones, you have to applaud the franchise’s honesty and willingness to make hard choices.

Moving Gasol to the Pelicans would be a hard choice — seeing him suit up for a division opponent will sting a little bit more than it would seeing him in the Eastern Conference. The Grizzlies also send over Garrett Temple and Dillon Brooks, two wing players that should help the Pelicans. While Brooks was the subject of a botched trade earlier this season, he’s not valuable enough for the Grizzlies to hold onto for their rebuild. They do need to start losing games though, in order to finish low enough in the standings to hold on to their 2019 first round pick, which is owed to Boston but is protected for picks 1-8 this year and 1-6 next year before being unprotected in 2021.

For the Pelicans, they have to give up Nikola Mirotic and their 2019 first round pick, but they run the risk of losing Anthony Davis if they don’t improve this season. They’re four games out of the playoffs, so they need to ask themselves if they’d rather have a pick in the teens in the upcoming draft or Anthony Davis for another six years — it doesn’t seem like a difficult choice to make.