https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi4qJz2FnXK/?hl=en&taken-by=chandlerparsons
A firesale seems like the smart way to go for the Memphis Grizzlies. Marc Gasol and Mike Conley are nice players, but they are aging commodities on a team that is nowhere near the level of the Western Conference elites.
The Grizzlies, however, have other things in mind, like winning more than 50 games next season. Team owner Robert Pera, who can dunk (barely), voiced his rebound vision in an interview with Grind City Media (via The Commercial Appeal):
“Assuming Marc (Gasol) and Mike (Conley) come back healthy, I think we have a couple of surrounding pieces that are younger players that are going to make a positive impact,” Pera told the media outlet he employs. “We’ll get another good player in this draft. I see no reason why we can’t return to being a 50-win plus team.”
Okay. The Grizzlies are gunning to rejoin the mid-range of the Western Conference, and they’re going to need a third player to join Gasol and Conley. How are they going to do that? Michael Scotto of The Athletic reports they are looking into trading the No. 4 pick in an attempt to dump Chandler Parsons’ terrible deal:
With the draft a week away, executives are exploring the trade market with more urgency while filtering real intel versus smokescreens.
The Memphis Grizzlies have gauged the trade market on a package of Chandler Parsons and the No. 4 overall pick, league sources told The Athletic.
I may be just a D-level blogger but this idea is incredibly shortsighted, if true. Take Doncic and just eat the remaining two years of Parsons’ contract (~$49 million) — trading away a legitimate asset only compounds the failure of that max contract. Also, it’s not like the Grizzlies would be able to lure anyone of note to Memphis with that cap space.
