The Memphis Grizzlies have taken another big step toward rebuilding their roster, trading center Marc Gasol and leaving Mike Conley as the lone remaining piece from the core four of the franchise’s best success.
And Conley’s tenure might only last the rest of this season.
The Grizzlies traded Gasol to Toronto on Thursday at the NBA trade deadline, more than two weeks after owner Robert Pera told both Gasol and Conley that they would be listening to offers for two of the league’s longest-tenured teammates.
Memphis sent Gasol to the Raptors in exchange for Jonas Valanciunas, a person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the details couldn’t be announced until approved by the NBA. ESPN, which first reported the Gasol deal, also said CJ Miles and Delon Wright were included in the deal with Valanciunas.
Trading Gasol at least got Memphis something out of a 34-year-old center who holds a $25 million option he can exercise this summer.
Conley had been linked to Utah, Detroit and even Toronto along with Gasol in a handful of reports. But Conley is due $67 million over the final two seasons of the max contract he signed in July 2016, making a trade tougher to piece together.
Instead, the point guard whose 771 games played is a franchise-high ahead of only Gasol’s 769 prepared to play in Oklahoma City on Thursday night with a handful of new teammates joining him soon after other moves Thursday by the Grizzlies.
Memphis let Zach Randolph and Tony Allen leave in 2017 after the franchise’s seventh straight postseason appearance.
They tried to rebuild around Conley and Gasol, who had been among just six active NBA players to spend their entire NBA careers of at least 10 seasons with one franchise. They won just 22 games last season without Randolph and Allen and Conley out most of the season with an injured heel.
The Grizzlies came into this season insisting they could be a playoff team.
Instead, they just matched the 22 wins from last season on Tuesday in a game Gasol left the arena early after being benched without explanation. Two days later, Memphis traded away its all-time leader in points, rebounds and blocks to at least get something in case Gasol opted out this summer.
It’s just the latest off-court drama for a franchise involved in a failed three-team trade in December over confusion about which Brooks (MarShon or Dillon) was included in the deal. MarShon Brooks finally was traded away Jan. 3 along with Wayne Selden Jr. to Chicago. Then the Grizzlies announced Jan. 6 that Chandler Parsons would continue rehab in Los Angeles after reports both sides had agreed to a split.
Now Pera has to decide if he wants to rebuild around Conley and rookie Jaren Jackson Jr., or simply try to get a better offer this summer.
—
AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.
—
Follow Teresa M. Walker at www.twitter.com/teresamwalker
—
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports
Add A Comment