Offseason Approach

Retool the roster to get back into contention

Actual Cap Space

-$36.1 million

Practical Cap Space

-$36.1 million

Projected Luxury Tax Space

$52.0 million

Under Contract (12)

Desmond Bane
Brandon Clarke
Zach Edey
Jay Huff
G.G. Jackson
Jaren Jackson Jr.
John Konchar
Ja Morant
Scotty Pippen Jr.
Zyon Pullin (two-way)
Jaylen Wells
Vince Williams Jr.

View Roster

Potential Free Agents (6)

Santi Aldama (restricted)
Marvin Bagley III (unrestricted)
Yuki Kawamura (restricted – two-way)
Luke Kennard (unrestricted)
Cam Spencer (restricted – two-way)
Lamar Stevens (unrestricted)

View Free Agents

Dead Cap (1)

Mamadi Diakite ($464,050)

Projected Signing Exceptions

Non-Taxpayer MLE ($14.1 million)
Bi-Annual Exception ($5.1 million)

Notable Trade Exceptions

Marcus Smart ($7.7 million)
Ziaire Williams ($6.1 million)

First Round Draft Picks

None

Notable Extension Candidates

Brandon Clarke (veteran extension – as of 10/1)
Jaren Jackson Jr. (veteran extension – renegotiation-and-extension eligible)
John Konchar (veteran extension)
Ja Morant (veteran extension)

Analysis

Despite the disappointing finish to the season, the Memphis Grizzlies had a nice bounce-back season. A year after everything went off the rails due to a historic number of injuries, Memphis was near the top of the Western Conference until a late season slide. That was followed by a non-competitive first-round loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

That leaves the Grizzlies asking the following question: Is this core group good enough to contend?

The Grizzlies core of Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Desmond Bane have had five years together now. That’s a pretty long window in the NBA. Memphis has made four playoff appearances in that five-year stretch. That’s pretty good. On the flip side, the team has won one playoff series. That’s not as good.

The reality is that life comes at you very fast in the NBA. Yesterday’s up-and-coming fun, young team is today’s past-their-expiration, never-was team.

The Grizzlies aren’t quite to the bad side of that yet, but they aren’t the fun, young bunch anymore either. This offseason is going to go a long way to deciding if they can take the step from playoff team to contender.

The Grizzlies don’t have a first-round pick, so the draft will likely be less of an event for them. The team does have two later second-round picks. Those will probably be used to replenish two-way depth.

Free agency is where the real work will be done for Memphis. The team has a couple of options this summer. They can stay over the cap, and then focus on re-signing Santi Aldama in restricted free agency, while adding some depth. The Grizzlies should be about $52 million under the tax before making any moves. That’s more than enough room to re-sign Aldama, use the full Non-Taxpayer MLE to add an impact free agent, and then to fill out the rest of the roster.

The second path for Memphis is to renounce all of their free agents except for Aldama to create about $6.9 million in cap space. The team would then use that cap space to renegotiate-and-extend Jackson Jr., while having the $8.8 million Room Exception available to sign a free agent.

If the Grizzlies go down the cap space route to renegotiate-and-extend Jackson Jr., that would allow them to take care of him now, without hitting unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2026. A renegotiated contract for the upcoming season would bump Jackson Jr.’s salary from $23.4 million to about $30.3 million. From there, Memphis could extend Jackson Jr. off his new salary amount of $30.3 million. That would allow the Grizzlies to offer Jackson Jr. up to $42.4 million in first-year salary in an extension starting with the 2026-27 season. Off his current salary, the best Memphis can offer Jackson Jr. is a starting salary of $32.7 million. That nearly $10 million increase could be the difference between Jackson Jr. extending or hitting unrestricted free agency in a summer where there should be quite a bit of cap space available.

Ultimately, neither option takes Memphis out of the market to re-sign Aldama. They’d be able to keep his restricted free agent rights in either scenario. Something in the range of $60 million over four years feels about right for Aldama. That’s basically the Non-Taxpayer MLE, which is what Aldama would be looking at getting offered from rival teams as a restricted free agent this summer.

The real difference in staying over the cap or creating cap space to renegotiate-and-extend Jackson Jr. is between having the Non-Taxpayer MLE of $14.1 million vs the Room Exception of $8.8 million available to add a free agent.

Either way, the Grizzlies should be able to add a solid free agent. There’s not a lot of money available this summer, which should make the Room Exception more enticing for free agents than it might usually be. The other good new for Memphis? They’re really only looking to fill a couple of roster spots. This roster is pretty full, meaning they can make a targeted signing to fill a specific need.

Picking the cap space option, could cost the team Luke Kennard in free agency. Given Kennard’s role shrunk some last season, that’s probably not a big loss. The Grizzlies also have an in-house replacement in Cam Spencer, and he’ll cost less than Kennard will. Look for Memphis to bump Spencer up to a standard contract this summer, likely on a two-year deal with a team option. That will allow the Grizzlies to decline that second season, then re-sign Spencer long-term using Early Bird rights in 2026.

Whether the team is using the MLE or the Room Exception, they could use more wing depth. The frontcourt is pretty deep with Jackson Jr., Zach Edey, Brandon Clarke and a likely re-signed Aldama. The backcourt has depth too with Morant, Bane, Scotty Pippen Jr. and John Konchar.

On the wing, Jaylen Wells was awesome as a rookie. He’s at least a rotation-level wing for years to come, and realistically a lot more. Behind Wells, there’s Vince Williams Jr., who showed promise during the injury-plagued 2023-24 season, but had kind of a lost year this past season. G.G. Jackson is still finding his way in the NBA, even if he’s got lots of potential.

Adding a veteran wing to the mix would be huge for Memphis. The options aren’t going to knock your socks off, but players like Gary Trent Jr., Bruce Brown, Caris LeVert, Taurean Prince, Tim Hardaway Jr., Amir Coffey or Jae’Sean Tate would all be solid pickups for Memphis. Some of those guys wouldn’t even cost the team the entire MLE or Room Exception. That would leave some left over to give Spencer a longer contract now, or to use later in the season, should the need arise.

And, of course, Memphis could make a big trade. The Grizzlies have been more open to cashing in and chasing veteran upgrades in the past year or so than in the past. They were linked to Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant and others at times in the last year. Butler is off the table now, but Durant is still available. Making a move like that would cost Memphis one of Jackson Jr., Bane or Morant, simply because the salary-matching gets too difficult otherwise.

If that’s too rich, there will be other players available this summer who should cost less than an aging star. The Grizzlies have the players and contracts to offer in deals. Outside of this upcoming draft, Memphis has their first-round pick (or a swapped pick) available in every draft moving forward. That’s enough to put together some really enticing trade packages if the right player becomes available.

And that’s exactly how the Grizzlies should be thinking about this offseason. There’s no reason to start breaking up this core yet. But Memphis also can’t be too precious with their own drafted-and-developed players. At some point, they have to go for it, or that window may never really open.

The pieces are place for a solid offseason for the Memphis Grizzlies, even without a blockbuster trade. Look for this team to retool their depth a bit, while locking in for the future with good players on good (and tradable!) contracts. From there, a trade for a star could come, or it might still be a bit away. Either way, Memphis should have enough in place to push deeper into the playoffs this coming season than they have in previous years.