The Grizzlies will keep Nick Calathes on their roster next season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The 6’6 guard reportedly had a couple of offers from Europe worth $6.5MM over three years; his salary for next season will be on the books for roughly $816K. The salary, which had been non-guaranteed, is fully guaranteed after the Grizzlies failed to waive him after the close of business today.
Memphis wasn’t expected to let him go, as coach Dave Joerger indicated last month that the guard would remain with the team. The Grizzlies tried and failed to find someone else they felt would be an upgrade on Calathes, according to Wojnarowski (Twitter link), and that’s in spite of the team’s new deal with Beno Udrih.
Calathes will have to miss the first 13 games of the season to serve the rest of his 20-game league suspension after allegedly testing positive for Tamoxifen, a banned athletic supplement.