Well, Marvin Bagley III can be extended by the Grizzlies this summer. That’s exciting to a few people, presumably. Over the course of the last few years, the Memphis Grizzlies’ fanbase has watched the organization triple or quadruple down on youth in trying to build around Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Desmond Bane. It’s been inconsistent at best.
Vince Williams Jr. and G.G. Jackson both showed real promise in last year’s injury-happy season. This year, however, they didn’t live up to the hope. By the playoffs, The Grizzlies were playing John Konchar over them. John Konchar seems like a nice guy. I have a very funny tiny poster of him on my wall. But you don’t want him playing playoff minutes unless you are in a dire position.
The Memphis Grizzlies have some big decisions to make
Well, one could argue the Grizzlies are in a dire position. When the Grizzlies were blown out by 51 points in the first game of the series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Bagley was considered a bright spot. He had 17 points in 16 minutes. Unfortunately, THEY STILL LOST BY OVER 50.
Well, he was back out of the rotation in the last two games. A rather aimless 11 minutes in Game 2 were the last we were going to see of him.
Uh. Do you want that back? To move on from De’Anthony Melton (which may have been the right call) and Jake Laravia (which was made necessary by a money-saving offseason move) and deciding to stick with Bagley would be bizarre.
But I don’t know about this front office anymore. I hear this a lot, and I say this a lot, but it is so, so weird looking back just a few years to see where the Memphis Grizzlies were then compared to now. They had multiple first round picks in the bank, Ja was one of the most popular players in the league, they were on the way up!
Now they have to think about Marvin Bagley III.
Honestly? This move is only going to matter money wise. I’ve come to the realization watching the Grizzlies since 2022 that the primary motivator for their decisions has been money. They don’t use the MLE. They don’t use traded player exceptions. They don’t go into the tax. They just, kinda, stay cheap and hope for the best.
I don’t see that changing any time soon.