3:15pm: Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian is now hearing that the Grizzlies won’t be signing Rivers after all. According to Herrington, the team discussed the idea, but doesn’t plan on pursuing a deal at this time.
2:43pm: Four or five teams are still expressing interest in Rivers, according to Charania, who notes (via Twitter) that there’s been no formal offer yet from Memphis, since Rivers is still a Sun. While the Grizzlies still appear to be the frontrunners for the veteran guard, it sounds like it may not be a sure thing quite yet.
1:20pm: Austin Rivers technically hasn’t been released yet by the Suns, but once he’s officially cut and clears waivers, he’s expected to finalize a new deal with the Grizzlies, league sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Reports on Monday night indicated that Phoenix would be parting ways with Rivers shortly after acquiring him from the Wizards. The 26-year-old was part of the package Washington sent to the Suns in exchange for Trevor Ariza. However, Kelly Oubre was the prize of that package for the Suns, who decided to let Rivers try to catch on with a contending team.
Rivers and his representatives wasted little time in lining up a new deal for the veteran guard, though some details will need to be ironed out before he officially joins the Grizzlies. For one, Memphis currently has a full roster of 15 players on guaranteed contracts. One of those players will need to be traded or released to make room for Rivers.
It will be interesting to see if the odd man out in Memphis is MarShon Brooks, whom the Grizzlies were ready to trade to Phoenix in a three-team Ariza deal on Friday before the trade fell apart because the Suns thought they were getting Dillon Brooks.
MarShon has played fairly regular minutes this season, but would overlap positionally with Rivers, and waiving him might allow the Grizzlies to avoid any lingering locker-room awkwardness after last week’s failed trade. Ivan Rabb and even Chandler Parsons could also be release candidates in Memphis.
Meanwhile, since the Suns haven’t officially waived Rivers yet, they may be in position to negotiate a small buyout with him. Players in Rivers’ situation are typically only open to buyouts if they have a new NBA home lined up — now that the Grizzlies are poised to sign him, perhaps Rivers would be willing to give back the equivalent of his prorated minimum salary, which he’d receive from Memphis on his new deal.
For what it’s worth, the Grizzlies can’t offer Rivers more than the minimum, since they used their full mid-level exception on Kyle Anderson and used their bi-annual exception last season on Tyreke Evans.
After enjoying a career year in Los Angeles last season for the Clippers, with 15.1 PPG, 4.0 APG, and a .378 3PT% in 61 games (33.7 MPG), Rivers has struggled so far in 2018/19. In 29 games (23.6 MPG) with the Wizards, the former Duke Blue Devil posted 7.2 PPG and 2.0 APG with a .392/.311/.543 shooting line. Assuming they’re able to finalize a deal, the Grizzlies will be hoping for a bounce-back performance from Rivers in Memphis.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
So basically after being involved in the three team trade with PHX and WAS, and then not being involved, MEM still found a way to indirectly be involved
Lol watch them cut Dillion, wait I mean Marshon Brooks to make room for him
If I were Phoenix I would have held on to him for a trade or make him give some of his salary back. Only in the NBA it seems contracts don’t mean squat and teams must bow to whims of premadonas just because they want both their entire salary and to be on a competing team.
Makes sense. Be petty and force a player to play for you even though they never signed that contract with you to begin with. Suns didn’t have to cut him, but why keep him? He isn’t a part of their future and is a FA at years end. He’s actually talented so they may win some games and mess up their draft position. Not to mention any minutes he plays takes away from court time for other players that the organization may want to evaluate/develop. Owners never have to bow to the whim of a player, but in most cases it is mutually beneficial to part ways. I’d like to hear your thoughts on teams that sign players to contracts and then force them to leave the team or bury them on the bench (Noah and deng are recent examples). I’d also be curious to hear your opinion if you worked on a contract and your employer shipped you to a sister organization in Antarctica to work for the final 5 months of your deal when you will seek a new employer at the end anyway. Would you be a diva for wanting more in that scenario? You signed a contract to do a job in a specific place and then all of a sudden you get shipped off to a wasteland to finish out your term. No offense Phoenix, but this is a lost season
Not to mention Phoenix didn’t want rivers anyway, he was purely a salary match
It’s not being petty, it’s part of the business. And you’re right it does make sense.You trade for a guy you think is going to play for you and he basically holds a roster spot hostage until he gets what he wants and yes I refer to that as a premadona. Also teams don’t force players to sign contracts, they do so willingly. Noah, Deng, Mozgov, George Hill, and I’m sure there are other examples all signed contracts with teams that gave them more salary then condenders because that’s what they have to offer outside of winning, money. Those players chose finances over winning and that’s fine but don’t act like the victim. I know hindsight is 20/20 but do you really think Geoge Hill genuinely believed the Kings would make the playoffs in 2018? Also Noah was a problem in the locker room hence why he was forced to leave the team.Additionally, your analogy about being shipped to a sister organization in Antartica is both impossible and laughably different then a basketball player being traded and relocating to Phoenix from Washington DC.
I have no idea what the Suns are thinking here. Rivers is better than any point guard on their roster. Besides that, PHX could have gotten SOMETHING for Rivers. In addition to Memphis, he would have been a nice addition for Orlando or Philly.
This is why the Suns – even with two young stars on the roster – are the worst team in the NBA.
He makes too much money. Memphis was willing to take him by shedding unwanted contracts. Philly has nothing to trade for rivers, unless it’s fultz but I can’t see them parting with him for a bench rental like rivers. Rivers was a throw in in this trade. Oubre was the real asset. No one wants to pay rivers 12 million, which is why he has been traded twice in one season. They would be lucky to get a 2nd rounder for him if these teams had the cap space to acquire him
He was included in the trade only as a salary match. He really has very little value, if any, for the Suns. Considering Rivers’ salary, I doubt anyone would trade anything of value for him. Most contenders don’t have space to trade for Rivers, any trade for him likely includes just salary matching undesirables going back to the Suns.
Rivers is not a true PG, he is a combo guard. Which is not what the Suns need. The Suns are better off letting their young PGs play, with Crawford coming off the bench playing the combo guard role.
I don’t think he makes sense for Philly with all the ball handlers on the roster. Fultz, Butler, McConnell, Simmons, Redick, Shamet
With Teague banged up and Rose’s injury history, I think he makes sense in Minny for depth purposes. I’m sure there isn’t enough playing time for him to chose Minny though.
Grizzlies do not want smoke with any of these Rumors.