JUNE 24: The deal is now official, both teams announced in press releases.
JUNE 23: The Grizzlies and Sixers have agreed to a trade that will send the No. 23 pick in this year’s draft to Memphis and guard De’Anthony Melton to Philadelphia, a source tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Danny Green is also headed to the Grizzlies in the swap, tweets Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Colorado State’s David Roddy will be Memphis’ pick at No. 23. Roddy had an excellent junior season for the Rams, averaging 19.2 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.2 SPG and 1.1 BPG on .571/.438/.691 shooting in 31 games (32.9 MPG).
In order for the trade to work, Green’s non-guaranteed contract will have to be partially guaranteed to at least $6.52MM for salary matching purposes, Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype tweets. Melton will earn $8.25MM next season and his $8MM salary in 2023/24 is partially guaranteed at $1.5MM.
As John Hollinger of The Athletic observes (via Twitter), the Sixers would lose the full mid-level exception with the deal unless they’re able to dump salary in subsequent moves, which could take them out of the running for P.J. Tucker, who is an unrestricted free agent after declining his player option.
Trading a guard in Melton and drafting a couple of forwards in Jake LaRavia and Roddy seems to indicate that Memphis wants to re-sign free agent Tyus Jones, who is one of the top point guards on the market. Jones has led the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio for four straight seasons and set career highs in PPG (8.7) and 3PT% (.390) in 2021/22.
It was reported multiple times in the past couple weeks that the Sixers were dangling the No. 23 pick and Green’s expiring, non-guaranteed deal in an effort to add a win-now veteran, and they were able to acquire a talented young player in Melton, who had reportedly drawn considerable interest around the league.
Melton, 24, is a strong, versatile defender capable of playing both guard positions. In 73 regular season games this past season (22.7 MPG), he averaged 10.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.7 APG and 1.4 SPG on .404/.374/.750 shooting. He’s extension-eligible this offseason, although the Sixers might hold off on that decision.
Better than Eric Gordon at least and under contract for another year after this one, so…Nice move Daryl!
Latest report is they are still trying to get Gordon
Green’s contract is the biggest part pf this deal
Melton will add scoring for the 2nd unit. Also traded away green contract. I like it
Green contract was unguarenteed. It effectively was zero for Sixers. Nice deal for Green himself tho!
Reach for Roddy
What’s the difference between Melton and Shake? Def did not need a 6-2 guard. Need a SF.
Whaaatttt????
How about one is better at everything and also one of the best defenders in the NBA.
Melton is an elite defender (steal/block rates) and an elite defensive rebounder. Don’t be fooled by his size. His shooting isn’t as good as Shake’s, but it isn’t terrible either. Moreover, Melton should blossom in Philly and he’s almost a year younger than Shake. You should be happy. As a Cs fan I’m pissed that they spend more for White to no avail. Had they not “gone for it”, they could have made this deal.
When you realize this is how they spent their MLE it’s a bad trade. They have a very similar player on the roster at a min deal not 8M.
White worked out.
White did but honestly Melton is better for half the price per year and have the 1st round picks.
You’re messing with a finals run. You get into the what-ifs.
I thought Melton would break out in last year’s playoffs but he did not shoot well. Still doesn’t but I guess he made an impression in the GSW series.
Think he’s better than GPayton? He still has to be signed.
Worked out great!
What? Derrick White was an important key to the Celtics run to the Finals & will be an important rotation player for years to come. Great defender, ball pusher, team player, gets in the paint, etc.
“to no avail”
What?
Melton gave the Warriors fits. Glad he’s gone.
Yet another reach tonight for MEM getting Roddy. On top of that they lose Melton and have to pay Green $6.5M to most likely sit out the whole season after the ACL & LCL injury. MEM is putting a lot of faith in their ability to resign Jones, because if they don’t their guard depth is going to be put to the test. Without him they basically just have Ja, Bane, & Konchar; the others like Brooks & Ziaire are 3s imo. Without Tyus I guess they pivot to someone like Wright, Schroder, or Oladipo.
Off-season far from over. They’ve been interested in other guards, most recently Monte Morris, who’s cheaper than Tyus will likely be.
I agree they still have plenty of time to make moves, but thought they could’ve gotten a really good guard in the 1st (glad they were able to at least land some kind of G in the draft). He’ll most likely be cheaper financially but still he is older, and will require something besides just money to land (draft capital or player swap). Depending on what DEN is wanting in return, it’s not a terrible option. They could go with Delon Wright as well, for cheaper and nothing besides $$$ to get him.
Melton is a top 10 defensive guard.
Will Greens contract be fully guaranteed in the end?
Still trying to confirm that. There’s no reason it needed to be, from either the Grizzlies’ or Sixers’ perspective, so I’d be surprised if he got more than a partial guarantee.
How does Memphis let Melton get away from them?? They are going to regret losing this player in a couple years at most. If Tyus Jones is a guy they expect to re-sign the regret will hit the team within the next month.