This trade isn't likely to alter their ceiling this season and next.ĭaye, a 24-year-old forward in his fourth year out of Gonzaga, is in the final year of his rookie deal that pays him $3 million this season. Very good grab. He joins a solid, well-balanced bench group that now includes Darrell Arthur, Jerryd Bayless, Quincy Pondexter and rookie Tony Wroten. The Grizzlies will continue to ground-and-pound their way through the regular season as always. It's possible that a year or two of hindsight will make Davis look like the steal of this deal even if not, he's on a rookie-scale contract and capable of producing immediately. He is absolutely a rotation player behind Gasol and Randolph and he fits nicely into the hole created by Speights' departure. The Grizzlies' accumulated minor assets aren't quite as eye-popping as the Thunder's haul, but they aren't worth writing off entirely. Davis, 23, was a 2010 lottery pick who has emerged since Andrea Bargnani went down with an elbow injury in December, averaging 13.9 points and 8.1 rebounds in 33.5 minutes in January. The Gay-for-Prince portion of this exchange saves Memphis $22.2 million in future salary commitments (Gay was owed $37.1 million combined in 2013-15 Prince will be owed $14.9 million over that same time period).
Going from "occasionally spectacular but regularly disappointing" to "almost always solid" isn't a free fall by any means, and Prince should fit right in on a Memphis team that boasts the No. The Grizzlies replace Gay's athleticism and volume-scoring potential with Tayshaun Prince's experience and solid two-way play. Memphis does essentially the same thing here, although in less sexy fashion. Oklahoma City downgraded from Harden to Kevin Martin, pocketing assets ( Jeremy Lamb and a first-round pick), avoiding future tax penalties and increasing its flexibility going forward. Memphis also found a logical trade package that comes off a bit like a poor man's version of the James Harden deal. Wednesday's trade was set up by a similarly minded move last week, when the Grizzlies dumped Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington, Josh Selby and a first-round pick to the Cavaliers for Jon Leuer to get under the luxury-tax line.Įven if some of the players' feathers were ruffled by this move, Grizzlies management came to the correct conclusion: Gasol would have been the most difficult to replace, Conley represented the best value and Randolph gives Memphis its identity.
Legitimate championship contention just wasn't in the cards this season or next with that group, making it difficult to justify all of that potential expense. The Grizzlies were set to pay those four players a combined $58 million next season, an amount that would have approached the salary cap by itself. Someone had to go, or else luxury-tax payments - serious luxury-tax payments - were coming down the pipeline. The future of the core four of Gay, Mike Conley, Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph was just untenable from a financial standpoint. As it turns out, they didn't wind up needing to think all that long about it. The Point Forward's New Year's resolution for the Grizzlies was to think long and hard about life without Rudy Gay. Incoming: Tayshaun Prince, Ed Davis, Austin Daye, a 2013 second-round pick and cash