For weeks, the Grizzlies have been trying to navigate a trade destination for Ja Morant.
They’ve gone back and forth between what they will ultimately choose to do, and their strictness on what they want to receive back has prevented them from getting a deal done to this point.
Well, forget all of that, because the deadline is almost here, and the Grizzlies might make a 180-degree turn no one saw coming.
Grizzlies could shock fans by including Ja Morant in a massive deadline trade
For a while, the Grizzlies had a strict price on what it would take to trade for Ja Morant.
The only issue is that teams aren’t necessarily desperate for him, which doesn’t help the Grizzlies have leverage to get what they want in return for Morant.
Apparently, Memphis has realized that, finally, and with the clock ticking down, they don’t have a lot of time left to make a trade if they plan on doing one this season.
NBA insider Kelly Iko reported, “The Grizzlies are becoming increasingly aware they won’t recoup a similar haul compared to what Jackson or Desmond Bane procured in a Morant deal.”
What this refers to is that they won’t get the same level of draft compensation in a Morant trade as the Bane trade’s standard set this past offseason.
Even in the Jackson Jr. trade on Tuesday, they didn’t receive as big a haul as some would have probably expected.
With that in mind, Iko also reported, “The Grizzlies are now also interested in being a facilitator in any Antetokounmpo deal elsewhere and are monitoring that situation closely.”
A few weeks ago, it sounded like one option was that Morant could have been traded to the Bucks and paired with Giannis Antetokounmpo, but now it sounds like they’re more likely to be tied to one another for a reason we didn’t originally expect.
There are so many moving pieces around the league, and after the Kevin Durant trade this summer, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see another massive trade that fulfills a bunch of teams’ needs, in what could be a 4-5+ team deal.
There are a lot of rules in place, which makes these multi-team trades more likely to happen when big contracts are moved.
Whether or not Morant is in a trade that facilitates a Giannis trade, it’s still an important update that the Grizzlies have softened their asking price on Morant, as that flexibility could allow Morant to get dealt before Thursday afternoon.