The Memphis Grizzlies Have An Interesting Offseason Ahead

After a surprising season, the Memphis Grizzlies are poised for an interesting offseason. Surely, the team would like to position itself to, at the very least, be in contention for a playoff spot next season. Doing that, though, is tricky.

For starters, the Grizzlies won’t be armed with a significant amount of cap space to reinforce the roster. When the team dealt Jae Crowder, Andre Iguodala and Solomon Hill to the Heat in exchange for Justise Winslow, they spent money that would have been available to spend on the market this summer. Winslow hasn’t played yet — he was hurt when the trade happened and got hurt again as the bubble started in Orlando earlier this summer — but he’s a talented piece. Getting him for expiring deals (and only $13 million per year over the next two years) was good business.

But as it stands, the Grizzlies are now $15 million over the cap, per Keith Smith’s cap sheets. Aside from flipping contracts — notably Gorgui Dieng’s $17 million — there’s not really ways to create a lot of space to spend. Which is fine — the 2021 free agency class isn’t great and doesn’t feature obvious fits for Memphis. Someone like Denver’s Jerami Grant (who is reportedly opting out of the last year of his deal) would be an interesting player for the Grizzlies to consider, but he’d likely be too expensive anyway.

Memphis also has internal players that it needs to decide on one way or the other. The biggest name is De’Anthony Melton, who is set to be a restricted free agent. Melton was a really good piece for the Grizzlies and seemingly fits well alongside Ja Morant in the backcourt by providing wing defense and some secondary creation. However, he shot under 30% on three-pointers last year, making him an imperfect fit in head coach Taylor Jenkins’ three-point heavy system.

If the Grizzlies want to keep him (and by all indications they do) him being a restricted free agent vs. unrestricted helps immensely. Not many teams will have cap space to throw a lucrative offer his way and it’s unclear who would want to pony up to get him. The Suns will have space, but drafted Melton and flipped him to the Grizzlies. The Hawks have the most space (almost $50 million), but already have a lot of guards and wings surrounding Trae Young. One more couldn’t hurt, but it’s not a perfect fit.

Elsewhere, Melton doesn’t really fit with the Hornets, who already have Devonte Graham and Terry Rozier at guard and, in Rozier’s case, eating up significant cap space. The Pistons might be the most interesting option because they have a massive need at guard, but the Grizzlies can match any offer sheet Melton signs, assuming they extend him qualifying offer. As long as it’s nothing crazy, it probably makes sense to match. Maybe it ends up being something like $24 million over three years with an option for the last year.

The two other names to watch are Josh Jackson and two-way player John Konchar. Jackson got more time with Memphis as the season went on and might be worth bringing back for another run. But how much he’s worth is really hard to peg down considering his checkered past and inconsistent play. Maybe he’s back on a deal slightly above the minimum in a prove it situation.

As for Konchar, he’ll be a restricted free agent. (Fellow two-way player Yuta Watanabe will also be a restricted free agent, but he saw way less time with the Grizzlies than Konchar.) Konchar only played 19 games with the Grizzlies, but posted good numbers and was rated out as above-average per VORP. He’s an interesting wing and some kind of deal that keeps him in the fold at a fair price for two or three years makes a lot of sense for both sides.

Maybe the Grizzlies have something else up their sleeves or will pull off some kind of trade. But this is a team without a first-round pick and limited cap flexibility to improve right now coming off a season where they way outperformed expectations. The goal this offseason is to improve in some way and build on almost being a playoff team in year one of Morant and year two of Jaren Jackson Jr. If they want to look outside the organization to do so, it’ll be difficult.