- Grizzlies guard Luke Kennard said the addition of former UConn guard Cam Spencer, who was drafted in the second round and signed on a two-way deal, gives the club another offensive option. “He can shoot, man,” Kennard said, per Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “He really can. I think he’ll be really close in our shooting competitions. Well let him get in a couple and see how he can hang.”
Speaking to Cyro Asseo de Choch of HoopsHype, former lottery pick Ziaire Williams said he wasn’t surprised to be traded from Memphis to Brooklyn last month. It was a salary-dump move for the Grizzlies, who were focused on staying out of the luxury tax and re-signing Luke Kennard.
“It didn’t catch me off guard. The GM [Zach Kleiman] was kind of letting me know a little bit, just so I wouldn’t be completely shocked,” Williams said. “But when it happens, it’s always like, ‘Damn, it’s real now.’ Like I said, man, I’m happy for the opportunity, and I’m grateful for what I experienced in Memphis, and I’m just looking forward to this next chapter in my life.”
Williams’ interview with HoopsHype covers several topics, including his excitement about joining the Nets and playing for Jordi Fernandez, dealing with injuries the past two seasons, and what skills he brings to a team. Here are a couple more highlights.
On adjusting to Brooklyn:
“It’s been crazy, man. I can’t lie. There’s been a lot, but I got a great supporting cast with me – my mom, my dad, and a bunch of others on my team that are making it a lot easier. Finding new places, meeting new people, learning new plays – everything is super new. It almost feels like I’m a rookie again. To be honest with you, I love it, man. I love this opportunity, and I think it’s really a blessing in disguise for me.”
On what he’s been working to improve this summer:
“Definitely, first and foremost, my body. They say availability is the best ability. I had a nasty little back injury last year, so I’ve been really just every day in the weight room, treatment, just really trying to prioritize my body. And then on the court, just doing all the simple things, man – fine-tuning my shot, reading off closeouts, trying to be great at two or three things rather than trying to be good at a bunch of different things. We, me and the rest of my team, came up with a great plan this summer, and I’ve definitely gotten a lot better. I can’t wait to go out on the main stage and showcase the work I’ve put in the dark.”
A 6’9″ wing who turns 23 years old in a few weeks, Williams is eligible for a rookie scale extension until October 21, the day before the 2024/25 regular season begins.
Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2024 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Memphis Grizzlies.
Free agent signings
Luke Kennard: One year, $9,250,000. Includes $1,387,500 in unlikely incentives. Re-signed using Bird rights after team option was declined.
Trades
- Acquired the draft rights to Cam Spencer (No. 53 pick) from the Pistons in a four-team trade in exchange for the draft rights to Ulrich Chomche (No. 57 pick; to Raptors) and the Grizzlies’ 2030 second-round pick (top-50 protected; to Timberwolves).
- Acquired Mamadi Diakite and the draft rights to Nemanja Dangubic in exchange for Ziaire Williams and the Mavericks’ 2030 second-round pick.
Draft picks
- 1-9: Zach Edey
- Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $26,202,576).
- 2-39: Jaylen Wells
- Signed to four-year, minimum-salary contract ($7,895,796). First two years guaranteed. Third year non-guaranteed. Fourth-year non-guaranteed team option.
- 2-53: Cam Spencer
- Signed to two-way contract.
Two-way signings
Departed/unsigned free agents
- Jordan Goodwin (unsigned)
- Lamar Stevens (unsigned)
- Yuta Watanabe (Chiba Jets)
Other moves
- Waived Trey Jemison (two-way).
Salary cap situation
- Operating over the cap ($140.6MM) and below the luxury tax line ($170.8MM).
- Carrying approximately $170MM in salary.
- No hard cap.
- Full mid-level, bi-annual exceptions available.
- Four traded player exceptions available (largest worth $12,600,000).
The offseason so far
It has been a quiet summer in Memphis, where the Grizzlies will bet on the return of a handful of starters and rotation players from injuries to propel them to a bounce-back season in 2024/25. There’s reason to believe that could be a fruitful strategy. After all, this roster is pretty similar to the one that racked up 56 wins in 2021/22 and 51 more in ’22/23.
Injuries to Desmond Bane (he played 42 games last season), Marcus Smart (20 games), Brandon Clarke (six games), Luke Kennard (39 games), Steven Adams (zero games), and especially Ja Morant (nine games) derailed Memphis in 2024/25, but the team will have all of those players back on the court next season, with the exception of Adams, who was sent to Houston ahead of the February trade deadline.
While the Grizzlies didn’t lose any key players this offseason, they still had a hole to fill up front, where they lost Adams and Xavier Tillman during the season. Operating right up against the luxury tax line, Memphis wasn’t in position to add an impact veteran center, but the club used its lottery pick to bring in a potential long-term answer at the position, drafting Zach Edey ninth overall.
Edey is coming off a monster college career at Purdue, where he was named the NCAA’s player of the year in each of the past two seasons. And he showed some promise when he was able to suit up in Summer League last month, averaging 10.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks in 21.0 minutes per game, though he was limited to just two appearances (one in Salt Lake City and one in Las Vegas) due to ankle issues.
Still, it remains to be seen how the 22-year-old will adjust to the speed and athleticism of the NBA game, especially with opposing offenses looking to lure him away from the rim and out to the perimeter. If Edey’s not ready to take on a substantial role as a rookie, the Grizzlies will otherwise have to rely on non-traditional fives like Jaren Jackson Jr., Santi Aldama, and Clarke.
Edey represents the only major addition of the summer for the Grizzlies, who also re-signed Kennard to a new one-year deal and drafted a couple players in the second round in June — Jaylen Wells will have a spot on the team’s 15-man roster, while Cam Spencer begins his career on a two-way deal.
Of the offseason departures, Ziaire Williams is the most notable. He was drafted with the 10th overall pick in 2021, but never developed into a consistent contributor and was dealt to Brooklyn in a salary dump.
Up next
The Grizzlies currently have 14 players on fully guaranteed contracts, with Mamadi Diakite occupying the 15th roster spot — his $2.27MM salary is partially guaranteed for approximately $1.39MM.
Due to that partial guarantee, the Grizzlies don’t have the ability to waive Diakite and then sign a new 15th man for the veteran’s minimum without surpassing the luxury tax line — unless they cut Diakite within the next week and stretch his partial guarantee across three seasons.
I haven’t gotten the sense that Memphis is especially motivated to bring in a new 15th man, so the team may ultimately stick with Diakite for now. If the Grizzlies need to create a little spending flexibility below the tax line down the road, he could probably be traded relatively easily, perhaps with just some cash attached rather than any future draft assets.
Scotty Pippen Jr., who was impressive down the stretch for Memphis last season, may be the leading candidate to eventually supplant Diakite as the club’s 15th man. For the time being, Pippen is on a two-way deal and there will likely be no real urgency to promote him until he nears his 50-game limit.
The Grizzlies do have a few extension candidates on their roster worth watching, starting with Aldama, who is eligible for a rookie scale extension. After a promising sophomore season in 2022/23, Aldama didn’t take a significant step forward in year three, but if Memphis believes that was just a blip in an otherwise ascendant trajectory, the team could look to lock him up this fall rather than risk having his price tag go up in 2025.
Jackson and Smart are each eligible for a veteran extension this offseason, though both players are also under team control through 2026, so if nothing gets done before the season begins, that’s not a cause for concern. A new deal for Smart seems unlikely, given that he barely played due to health problems during his first year in Memphis.
Jackson is a better bet to be a long-term fixture with the franchise, but if he wants to try to make himself super-max-eligible by winning another Defensive Player of the Year award or earning an All-NBA spot in 2024/25, he’ll wait a year to sign anything. He may wait anyway, since his $23.4MM salary for ’25/26 will make it hard for the Grizzlies to offer him a deal worthy of his on-court value (they’re limited to a 40% raise in year one, with 8% annual raises after that).
Diamond Sports Group – the parent company of the Bally Sports regional networks – announced on Friday that it has reached an agreement with the NBA to continue local broadcasts for 13 teams for the 2024/25 season, according to Evan Drellich and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.
Diamond’s agreements, including a deal with the NHL to continue broadcasting nine teams’ games, will need to be approved by a federal bankruptcy judge. That hearing is scheduled for September 3, per Drellich and Vorkunov. While the new deals will only cover the 2024/25 season for now, they could extend beyond that if Diamond gets out of bankruptcy.
Diamond won’t be moving forward on deals with the Pelicans or the Mavericks, according to Friday’s announcement. The Pelicans news was reported earlier this month, with the team making plans to broadcasting its games for free over the air through Gray TV.
The Mavericks’ broadcast plans for the coming season remain unclear. However, The Athletic characterized the split with Dallas as mutual, and an NBA spokesperson told The Dallas Morning News that the Mavs “declined to continue distributing their games” through Diamond/Bally Sports, so it sounds like the club has a new plan in the works.
The 13 teams whose games will continue to air on Diamond’s regional sports networks in 2024/25 are the Hawks, Hornets, Cavaliers, Pistons, Pacers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Heat, Bucks, Timberwolves, Thunder, Magic, and Spurs.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Saturday’s farewell game in honor of Goran Dragic‘s retirement – dubbed “The Night of the Dragon,” will stream on the NBA App at 2:00 pm Eastern time, the league announced today (Twitter link). Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic will team up as part of “Team Luka,” while Dragic’s roster features former MVP Steve Nash. Eurohoops published the full rosters on Twitter.
- Speaking to reporters ahead of Dragic’s farewell game, Dirk Nowitzki suggested that he would like to continue working in basketball in some capacity, but he doesn’t plan on becoming a full-time coach for any team. “I don’t think I see coaching in my future,” Nowitzki said, per Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops. “Things could change very quickly, but I don’t see myself as a team coach. I see more myself as an individual coach.”
- Former Bucks assistant Josh Oppenheimer has accepted a job on Porter Moser‘s coaching staff at Oklahoma, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Milwaukee parted ways with Oppenheimer – who had a “close working relationship” with Giannis Antetokounmpo, according to Wojnarowski – back in May as Doc Rivers made changes to his staff ahead of his first full season with the Bucks.
As our list of traded player exceptions shows, six NBA teams currently control TPEs worth more than $10MM apiece. Those exceptions are as follows:
- Atlanta Hawks: $25,266,266 (expires 7/7/25)
- Brooklyn Nets: $23,300,000 (expires 7/7/25)
- Chicago Bulls: $17,506,232 (expires 7/8/25)
- Dallas Mavericks: $16,193,183 (expires 7/7/25)
- Memphis Grizzlies: $12,600,000 (expires 2/3/25)
- Washington Wizards: $12,402,000 (expires 2/10/25)
A trade exception allows a team to acquire a player’s contract without sending out matching salary in return. So in theory, the exceptions listed above could put these clubs in position to take on a sizable salary in a preseason or mid-season trade, perhaps acquiring a draft asset or two in the deal for their troubles.
[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Traded Player Exception]
In practice though, it will be difficult for any of these teams to make full use of their large TPEs in that sort of move. The Hawks, Nets, Bulls, Mavericks, and Wizards are all hard-capped at the first tax apron, while the Grizzlies would be if they were to use any portion of their exception.
Atlanta, Brooklyn, and Memphis also don’t have much breathing room below the luxury tax line, while Dallas is already in the tax, so they won’t be eager to take on much extra salary anyway.
Chicago could get about $6.6MM below the tax line by waiving Onuralp Bitim‘s non-guaranteed salary, while Washington could get about $11.9MM below that threshold by waiving their non-guaranteed players, so accommodating modest salary dumps could be in play for those clubs — especially the Wizards, whose big TPE will expire at the trade deadline. But generally speaking, these trade exceptions might not prove all that useful until the 2025 offseason.
Our TPE list uses italics to show which exceptions are currently ineligible to be used. As a reminder, teams operating above either tax apron can’t use trade exceptions generated during the previous regular season (2023/24) or the previous offseason (2023), while teams operating above the second tax apron can’t use new TPEs created from sign-and-trades.
That means, for example, that the Timberwolves are ineligible to use the $4MM exception they generated in February when they traded Troy Brown to the Pistons. They’re also ineligible to use the $8.8MM TPE they generated by signing-and-trading Kyle Anderson to Golden State last month. However, they could use the $2.5MM TPE created in July’s Wendell Moore deal, since it’s new since the season ended and wasn’t the result of a sign-and-trade.
After the Grizzlies turned down Luke Kennard‘s 2024/25 team option on June 29, the expectation was that he’d sign a new contract with the club. It took over a month, but the two sides eventually agreed to a one-year, $11MM deal, and Kennard said this week that returning to Memphis was always the plan, according to Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal.
“There are a lot of different conversations that go on throughout that process,” Kennard said. “I told (Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman) I want to be in Memphis. This is where I want to be. I’m excited with what they have built here over the last few years. I just wanted to be a small part of that.”
Family considerations factored into Kennard’s desire to remain with the Grizzlies, according to Cole, who notes that the 28-year-old is an Ohio native whose family isn’t too far from Memphis. Kennard and his wife also had a child in March, so he wasn’t eager to uproot them to move across the country.
“The fact that (family) can come see me anytime is such a big thing,” Kennard said. “Being closer to home plays a big factor. With the new baby and a wife at home, they love where we’re at and the city where we are. It’s been a great time so far. We’ve enjoyed Memphis a lot. We’re just glad we have at least another year.”
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- Anthony Edwards‘ Team USA experience at the 2023 World Cup ended without a medal, but the Timberwolves couldn’t have asked for a better set of circumstances for their young star this summer, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, who details how Edwards played an important role for a gold-medal U.S. roster at the Olympics and got the chance to spend several weeks learning from three of the best NBA players of all-time in LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry.
- Rising Spurs star Victor Wembanyama didn’t get to spend as much time with Durant in Paris as Edwards did, but the reigning Rookie of the Year appreciated getting the opportunity to speak to the Suns forward following France’s loss to Team USA in the gold medal game. “Clearly, this is my personal childhood favorite,” Wembanyama said in an appearance on M6 (YouTube link; hat tip to Eurohoops). “He became my favorite player… I made it clear to him that I wanted to learn from him and perhaps steal one or two of his secret techniques.”
- The Trail Blazers are parting ways with ROOT Sports and will be moving their games to an over-the-air network, according to Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report, who says the details of the team’s TV broadcast plans for the 2024/25 season will be announced soon. It has become a bit of a trend for NBA teams to leave local regional sports networks in favor of over-the-air channels, writes Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, with the Blazers joining Phoenix, Utah, and New Orleans as teams who have recently made that move.
- The Grizzlies, who were overwhelmed by injuries to key players last season, didn’t do much this offseason beyond drafting two-time National Player of the Year Zach Edey to fill their void in the middle and re-signing Luke Kennard on a one-year deal. They also hired six new assistant coaches. Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal gives the front office high marks for its approach to this offseason.
Free agent forward Timmy Allen, who played five games with the Grizzlies at the end of the 2023/24 season while on a 10-day contract, has signed with BC Oostende, the Belgian team announced in a press release (hat tip to Keith Smith of Spotrac).
Allen, 24, played college basketball at Utah and Texas prior to going undrafted last year. He spent most of his first professional season playing for the Grizzlies’ NBA G League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle, averaging 9.5 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 2.7 APG and 1.0 SPG on .432/.341/.738 shooting in 46 Showcase Cup and regular season games (26.4 MPG).
In his five games with the injury-ravaged Grizzlies, who cycled through numerous young players last season via 10-day hardship contracts, Allen averaged 2.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG and 1.0 APG in 25.0 MPG, going 6-of-23 (.261%) from the floor.
Oostende is the most successful domestic club in Belgium’s history, having dominated the county’s top basketball league until 2021, when the PBL was succeeded by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT League.
Oostende won 10 straight PBL titles before the BNXT was formed and was champion of the ’23/24 season in the new league, which combined the top basketball divisions of Belgium and the Netherlands.
The Lakers, Celtics and Cavaliers are the only three teams who haven’t added any new players through free agency or trade this offseason. Of the three, Los Angeles is the one with the least clarity about its lineup for next season.
Jovan Buha of The Athletic evaluates the Lakers’ depth chart and offers his predictions about who will take the fifth starter spot. With LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell looking like surefire starters, Buha lands on Rui Hachimura over Jarred Vanderbilt for the fifth slot.
Buha points to L.A.’s offensive production and 22-10 record with Hachimura in the lineup to close last season as major reasons why he views him as the frontrunner.
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- Lauri Markkanen‘s massive payday with the Jazz is a testament to patience, perseverance, and opportunity, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic. As Jones details, Markkanen didn’t often look like a future star in Chicago or Cleveland, but continued to work on improving his skill set and got the kind of runway in Utah that he hadn’t received at his previous NBA stops. Two years after joining the Jazz, Markkanen has an All-Star berth, a Most Improved Player award, and a new $200MM+ contract under his belt.
- With Luke Kennard back in the fold, marginal moves are the ones that will define the rest of the Grizzlies‘ offseason, Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal writes. Deciding whether or not to keep Mamadi Diakite is the most significant move involving players currently on the roster. Parting ways with Diakite would open a spot on the 15-man roster, but there’s no urgency to make a decision right away. Outside of that, a possible rookie scale extension for Santi Aldama is another piece of offseason or preseason business to watch.
- The difference in outside discourse regarding Jamal Murray between this offseason and last year is drastic, Bennett Durando of The Denver Post observes. Murray was fresh off playing a key role in the Nuggets winning their first championship a year ago, but underachieved in the 2024 playoffs and in the Olympics, Durando writes. While it shouldn’t be discounted that he was playing a different role – and played through injury – Murray’s struggles this year are poorly timed, given that he’s expected to sign a lucrative long-term extension this summer.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
A handful of NBA teams are making contingency plans for local broadcasting deals during the upcoming season. If Diamond Sports Group emerges from bankruptcy in the coming weeks or months, the company has discussed eliminating the RSN contracts for as many as five of its NBA teams — the Pelicans, Thunder, Grizzlies, Mavericks and Pistons, Tom Friend of the Sports Business Journal reports.
The decision is fluid, Friend adds, who hears the number could drop to three teams. Those five franchises are aware of the situation and most likely will offer their games over-the-air for free, if necessary. They would also each add a direct-to-consumer digital product.
We have more news from around the basketball world:
- The USA’s 3×3 team in the Olympics failed to challenge for medal contention at the Paris Olympics. Adding injury to insult, its most prominent member — former NBA guard Jimmer Fredette — suffered an adductor tear that will require a six-month recovery period, Eurohoops.net relays. Fredette revealed the injury on social media. “I had an injury that took place in the beginning minutes of our second game against Poland,” he wrote. “I tore two different ligaments completely in my adductor, which prevented me from being able to compete. This will lead me to have a recovery of around six months.”
- Another former NBA player, Chase Budinger, had his dreams of an Olympic medal dashed on Monday. Budinger and his beach volleyball partner, Miles Evans, won their first match against a duo from France but then lost to the Netherlands and Spain before falling to Norway’s Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, the defending gold medalists from Tokyo. Budinger will still cherish the memories, per ESPN News Services. “Playing in the Olympics, playing in this venue, will definitely be up there with some of my greatest basketball moments, for sure,” Budinger said.
- Will the Kyle Anderson and Isaiah Hartenstein additions prove disappointing to the Warriors and Thunder, respectively? Will Tyus Jones and Chris Paul end up as the biggest bargains in free agency? The Athletic’s Josh Robbins, Kelly Iko and Darnell Mayberry provide their insights and opinions on the free agent moves and trades made during this offseason.