- It didn’t take long for Grizzlies fans to start booing Chandler Parsons this season. The 28-year-old that missed much of last season with an injury is in the second year of the four-year, $97MM contract he signed last summer. Parsons told the media, including Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal, that he’ll simply treat Grizz home games as away games.
After being helped off the court in the Grizzlies’ season opener on Wednesday, forward JaMychal Green underwent an MRI on his injured left ankle and the results came back clean, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). Although the MRI showed no structural damage, Green will likely be sidelined for several weeks with an ankle sprain, according to Charania.
TNT’s David Aldridge provides a few more details, tweeting that Green has a bone bruise in addition to his high ankle sprain. Green is expected to be out for three or four weeks, a source tells Aldridge.
Green, who was a restricted free agent this past summer, remained unsigned for most of the offseason before finally agreeing to terms with the Grizzlies on a new two-year deal late in September. The 27-year-old power forward, who was the last RFA on the board for 2017, received a contract worth $8MM+ per year for the next two seasons.
After taking over for Zach Randolph as the club’s starting power forward in 2016/17, Green enjoyed a breakout season for the Grizzlies. He established new career highs in several categories, including PPG (8.9), RPG (7.1), FG% (.500), and 3PT% (.379). With Randolph heading to Sacramento in free agency this offseason, Green was expected to be leaned on more than ever in Memphis, but the team will have to get by without him for the next little while.
[RELATED: Memphis Grizzlies’ depth chart at RosterResource.com]
While Green recovers from his ankle injury, players like Brandan Wright, Chandler Parsons, and Jarell Martin may see increased minutes for the Grizzlies. Youngsters Deyonta Davis and Ivan Rabb could move up the depth chart as well — the club has no shortage of depth at the power forward spot.
Green will join Ben McLemore, who is recovering from a foot injury, as Grizzlies veterans on the shelf.
Grizzlies point guard Mario Chalmers is among the players who received an increased salary guarantee this week when he remained under contract, according to data from Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders and ESPN’s Bobby Marks. Chalmers, who received a modest $25K guarantee when he signed with the Grizzlies in the offseason, now has a fully guaranteed minimum salary for 2017/18.
[RELATED: 2017/18 NBA Salary Guarantee Dates]
Chalmers, who tore his Achilles in March 2016, wasn’t able to make a full recovery during the 2016/17 season, but looked good in camp and the preseason with Memphis this fall. His strong showing earned him a roster spot over fellow point guard – and 2016 first-rounder – Wade Baldwin, who was waived by the Grizzlies. Chalmers will earn a minimum salary worth about $2.106MM this season, though it’ll only count for approximately $1.471MM on Memphis’ cap.
Other players receiving increased guarantees this week include Khem Birch of the Magic and Pistons big man Eric Moreland. According to Pincus’ and Marks’ data, Birch will see his salary guarantee jump from $25K to $408K, while Moreland’s will increase from $750K to $1MM. Both players will receive fully guaranteed 2017/18 salaries on January 10, if they remain under contract.
Birch, who has spent the first few years of his professional career with teams in the G League or overseas, was excited to make an NBA roster for the first time this season, as Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel detailed over the weekend. The Canadian big man didn’t see any action during the Magic’s first game of the season on Wednesday night.
As for Moreland, the 25-year-old was a surprise inclusion in the Pistons’ rotation on Wednesday night, playing 12 minutes as a backup center. While he didn’t score at all, Moreland picked up three steals during his time on the court.
- After waiving Wade Baldwin and Rade Zagorac to set the regular season roster this week, Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace said those decisions were “extremely difficult,” per Ronald Tillery of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. “If this was a normal year when we didn’t have extra players who were viable then Wade and Rade wouldn’t be released,” Wallace said. Zagorac isn’t eligible to head to the Grizzlies’ G League affiliate, but the team thinks there’s a good chance they’ll bring him back down the road, tweets Tillery.
- The Grizzlies‘ major free agent signing of 2016, Chandler Parsons, won’t be in the starting lineup to open the season, making him one of the NBA’s highest-paid bench players. Tillery has the details in another article for The Commercial Appeal.
One year after using their first-round pick to draft Wade Baldwin, the Grizzlies have parted ways with the young point guard. The Grizzlies have waived Baldwin, according to a team release. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported earlier in the day that Memphis intended to waive or trade him (Twitter link). 
The Grizzlies also waived rookie forward Rade Zagorac to reach the 15-man regular season limit, the release adds. Wojnarowski had reported earlier (via Twitter) that the Grizzlies would be shedding Zagorac by waiving or trading him.
The Grizzlies’ decisions come as a bit of a surprise. At the start of camp, it appeared that forward Jarell Martin was on the chopping block for the club, and point guard Andrew Harrison was another player whose roster spot appeared to be in danger.
With Memphis waiving Baldwin and Zagorac, there will be room to carry both Martin and Harrison, along with veteran point guard Mario Chalmers, who has a small ($25K) partial guarantee on his contract. Wojnarowski has confirmed (via Twitter) that Chalmers and Harrison will remain on the roster as backups to starting point guard Mike Conley. Chalmers’ minimum salary deal will become fully guaranteed if he remains under contract through Wednesday.
The optics of the moves aren’t great for the Grizzlies, who drafted Baldwin a year ago using the 17th overall pick. He’s owed a guaranteed $1,874,400 salary this season, but the club won’t be on the hook for any future salary, since his $1,955,160 team option for 2018/19 hadn’t been picked up.
The Grizzlies will actually owe more guaranteed money to Zagorac, another 2016 draftee, who was stashed for one year and then signed a partially guaranteed three-year deal this offseason. The 35th overall pick in 2016, Zagorac will be owed $950K this season and $1,378,242 in 2018/19. His third-year team option for 2019/20 is non-guaranteed.
This marks the second straight preseason in which the Grizzlies have given up on a former first-round pick still on his rookie contract. A year ago, the team waived 2014 first-rounder Jordan Adams as part of its roster cutdowns.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
After Saturday’s flurry of roster moves around the NBA, most of the league’s 30 teams are all set for the regular season. Heading into opening night, teams are allowed to carry up to 17 players — no more than 15 on their respective NBA rosters, plus an additional two on two-way contracts.
Saturday didn’t represent the deadline for teams to set the regular season rosters, but it was the last day for a club to waive a player on a fully non-guaranteed contract and avoid having his salary count against the cap. That’s why most teams have already made the necessary moves to ensure their rosters are regular-season-ready.
[RELATED: 2017/18 NBA Non-Guaranteed Salaries By Team]
However, as our roster count page shows, there are four teams who will need to make at least one more trade, cut, or other roster move before they’ll be set for the season. These moves are due by Monday afternoon.
Here are those four teams:
Chicago Bulls
- NBA contracts: 16 (13 fully guaranteed)
- Two-way contracts: 2
- The Bulls still have three players on non-guaranteed contracts — Jarell Eddie, David Nwaba, and Diamond Stone. Eddie looked like the most logical candidate to be waived, so it’s somewhat odd that Chicago didn’t make that move on Saturday. Of course, the Bulls’ team salary is well below the salary floor, so if they end up paying Eddie or Nwaba for a couple days of service, it’s hardly the end of the world. Stone already has a $50K guarantee on his contract, so he could be waived on Monday without it affecting the Bulls’ bottom line.
Dallas Mavericks
- NBA contracts: 16 (12 fully guaranteed)
- Two-way contracts: 1
- The Mavericks are already at 17 players, so the most logical move would be to convert Gian Clavell‘s NBA contract into a two-way deal and avoid waiving anyone. Dallas has held off on that move, however, with Clavell drawing some trade interest. The club will have to make a call on him – or another player with a full or partial guarantee – by Monday.
Memphis Grizzlies
- NBA contracts: 17 (16 fully guaranteed)
- Two-way contracts: 2
- No team has more work to do before Monday than the Grizzlies, who will have to trade or cut multiple players and may end up eating a decent chunk of guaranteed money. The most likely scenario would see the team waiving Jarell Martin and perhaps Andrew Harrison (or Wade Baldwin), while retaining Mario Chalmers, who only has a modest $25K guarantee. Martin, Harris, and Baldwin all have full guarantees, which is why Memphis wasn’t under pressure to make any decisions on Saturday.
Utah Jazz
- NBA contracts: 16 (15 fully guaranteed)
- Two-way contracts: 2
- Like the Grizzlies, the Jazz appear set to waive a player on a fully guaranteed salary, which is why they could afford to wait until Monday rather than getting something done on Saturday. Raul Neto, the team’s lone non-guaranteed player, appears safe, meaning the decision will likely come down to Joel Bolomboy vs. Royce O’Neale. Both players have fully guaranteed minimum salaries.
The Grizzlies are exploring trades to reach the roster limit, tweets Keith Smith of RealGM. The team has 16 guaranteed contracts and must get rid of two players by Monday.
Past reports out of Memphis indicated that power forward Jarell Martin is most in danger of being waived, along with point guards Andrew Harrison and Wade Baldwin. Mario Chalmers doesn’t have a fully guaranteed contract, but he has looked good in recent weeks and appears to have a leg up over the younger point guards.
A first-round pick in 2015, Martin will make more than $1.47MM this year. He has spent much of the past two seasons in the G League, but played 42 games for the Grizzlies in 2016/17, averaging 3.9 points per night in about 13 minutes.
Harrison earned a spot in the rotation as a rookie point guard last season and appeared in 72 games, starting 18. He has a guaranteed $1,312,611 salary for this year and a fully non-guaranteed $1,544,951 for 2018/19.
Baldwin, a first-round pick in 2016, appeared in 33 games as a rookie point guard. He is guaranteed more than $1.87MM for this season.
The Grizzlies have moved a step closer toward finalizing their regular season roster, announcing today in a press release that they’ve waived Durand Scott. The 27-year-old guard initially joined the Memphis roster last week, and may ultimately land with the Memphis Hustle, the team’s G League affiliate.
Scott’s release had been expected, but the Grizzlies will now face some difficult decisions as they look to get down to 15 players for the regular season. With Scott no longer in the mix, the club is carrying 19 players in total — 17 on NBA deals and two on two-way contracts.
Of the Grizzlies’ 17 NBA players, only one has a non-guaranteed contract, and that player – Mario Chalmers – looks like a strong candidate to make the team’s 15-man squad. That would mean trading or waiving two players with fully guaranteed salaries. Jarell Martin appears to be on the chopping block, and a point guard like Andrew Harrison or Wade Baldwin could join him if Chalmers sticks around.
Jarell Martin is the player most likely to be waived by the Grizzlies despite a lack of depth at power forward, according to Chris Herrington of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. The Grizzlies need to pare two players to reach the 15-man limit and Martin is an inconsistent player who’s not really a stretch four or a defensive force, Herrington continues. The final roster decision will likely come down to guards Andrew Harrison and Wade Baldwin, since it appears Mario Chalmers has re-emerged as a rotation piece, Herrington notes. Harrison is a useful player at the back end of the roster but it would be difficult to give up on Baldwin, a first-round pick last year, Herrington adds. Memphis will likely explore trades involving those players this weekend to facilitate the decision.
- The Grizzlies will welcome Tony Allen back to the FedExForum this week and both general manager Chris Wallace and owner Robert Pera have released statements about his time with the franchise. In a post on the team’s official site, Pera goes so far as to say that the Grindfather’s jersey will one day hang in the rafters.