the Desmond Bane trade<\/a>, even though it was an opportunistic move; there\u2019s just no way an Eastern Conference team in that situation would make the same choice.<\/p>\nEven this year, despite the slow start, Morant\u2019s erratic play, and a rash of injuries to other key players, the Grizzlies don\u2019t suck: They\u2019re 16-22 with a barely negative scoring margin. They have a pretty easy pathway to the Chicago Bulls-style \u201csuccess\u201d of annual Play-In Tournament trips if they just stay the course. The problem is that you have no chance of surviving even one playoff round in the West without a much higher-ceiling roster. Even at its best, the Bane-Morant-Jackson core struggled to achieve that level.<\/p>\n
So the Grizzlies will reset, and some in the league already have questions about what might come next. Would the Grizzlies also consider moving on from Jackson, if not this season, then perhaps this summer? Are they headed toward a full rebuild? Or do they feel good enough about their current predicament to press on? My read on this situation is that Jackson remains a core piece, and he\u2019s signed for four years beyond this one. But as we\u2019ve seen already, life comes at you fast in this league.<\/p>\n
Getting back to Morant, though \u2014 what sort of trades make sense? The most hilarious outcome would be if Atlanta traded for him, but the Hawks presumably would already have him in uniform if there had been any interest.<\/p>\n
A quick canvas around the league indicated that some other potential trade partners also don\u2019t quite add up as Morant destinations. Sacramento\u2019s interest is lukewarm at best, according to a well-placed league source, with the Kings likely looking at a much deeper and longer rebuild than just throwing assets at a Morant deal. They seemingly only get mentioned here because of the \u201cVivek Ranadiv\u00e9 is crazy enough to do this\u201d factor.<\/p>\n
Similarly, teams such as the Clippers and Wolves are so handcuffed money-wise that it\u2019s hard to see them as serious bidders for Morant. The Clippers have won eight of their last 10, already have a better on-ball engine than Morant in James Harden, and don\u2019t want money that goes past 2027 (Morant\u2019s contract runs through 2028).<\/p>\n
The Wolves are another team in the lukewarm waters. They would possibly have more interest if it weren\u2019t for those pesky salary-cap rules, but it\u2019s hard to put together a cap-compliant trade that lets them take in Morant\u2019s $39 million salary while staying below the second apron. They would likely need to trade Naz Reid and at least three other players, and they don\u2019t have the depth to withstand Morant only playing half the schedule.<\/p>\n
Milwaukee is another team that has the desperation factor, but Morant doesn\u2019t seem like more of an answer for them than Young would have been. The Bucks are low on wings, and two of their best players are point guards (Kevin Porter Jr. and Ryan Rollins). I\u2019ll get back to the Bucks in a minute, though.<\/p>\n
Miami can get the Grizzlies out of dodge on Morant\u2019s contract with all their expiring money (Terry Rozier and Simone Fontecchio, for instance), but the asset portion is in the eye of the beholder. Kel\u2019El Ware seems to be off limits. Do the Grizzlies fancy Nikola Jovi\u0107 or Kasparas Jaku\u010dionis at all? Miami might also be the worst city on the planet for Morant off the court, and Morant doesn\u2019t exactly radiate #Heatculture.<\/p>\n
Toronto? Now we might be getting warmer. There\u2019s a trade there that could let everyone win the press conference: Immanuel Quickley, Ochai Agbaji and Colin Murray-Boyles for Morant. Toronto, which has been giving off win-now vibes and whose name has come up in discussions for other big veteran names (such as Anthony Davis), would raise its immediate ceiling and put Morant at the controls of an up-tempo team that could use his shot creation in the half court. Morant would also reunite with a familiar face in former Grizzlies assistant Darko Rajakovi\u0107.<\/p>\n
Quickley\u2019s contract runs one year longer than Morant\u2019s, and while the number isn\u2019t as imposing ($32 million a year), it\u2019s arguably just as far underwater on production. The deal would give Memphis a more reliable backcourt starter while the franchise evaluates the rest of its roster at a lower price. The pain point would likely be Murray-Boyles; Toronto might not be comfortable letting him go and instead offer Ja\u2019Kobe Walter as a prospect. Alternatively, the Raptors could offer their lottery-protected 2026 first-rounder in a potential trade for Morant.<\/p>\n
Finally, let\u2019s talk about one deep dark horse: Brooklyn. With one trusted league source telling me that Michael Porter Jr. is a lock to move by the deadline so the Nets can sell high on his career year, it makes sense for the Nets to figure out who will be the centerpiece of their franchise a year from now. Remember, Brooklyn owes a pick swap to Houston in 2027 and thus has no incentive to tank next season. They need some players.<\/p>\n
Dealing Porter for Morant and picks would allow the Nets to have their cake and eat it, too. They could sell high on Porter, buy low on Morant, and fill their most glaring roster weakness ahead of the 2026-27 season. In the meantime, Brooklyn could follow Washington\u2019s lead post-trade and have Morant\u2019s calf injury \u201clinger\u201d into April so they can collect more ping-pong balls. Let\u2019s just say that Porter\u2019s fantastic season is colliding with other organizational objectives in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n
Would the Grizzlies want Porter? Probably not. But would somebody else want Porter? That seems more plausible. That\u2019s where teams such as Milwaukee, Toronto or Miami could come in for a three-way trade where the Nets and Grizzlies split the draft assets, the Nets get Morant, the Grizzlies get expiring money, and the third team gets Porter. The Bucks, who have been actively seeking upgrades around Giannis Antetokounmpo, can trade a 2032 first and a 2031 swap, and could use Kyle Kuzma and three low-salaried players as the salary match. Toronto has a similar pathway using R.J. Barrett, Murray-Boyles, a 2026 first and Agbaji; Miami could use Andrew Wiggins or Rozier plus Fontecchio, Jaku\u010dionis and a 2029 first.<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s stop speculating. The point here is that the Morant era in Memphis has reached its endgame, and similar to Young\u2019s tenure in Atlanta, it\u2019s coming to an underwhelming end after an electrifying start. The Grizzlies still have four weeks to find Morant a landing spot, but based on the history of similar situations, I\u2019d be surprised if it took half that long.<\/p>\n
\u2014 The Athletic\u2019s Sam Amick contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"May I interest you in a lightly-used point guard? On the same day that Trae Young\u2019s trade from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[671,7741,8173,360,11951,355,99,2970],"class_list":{"0":"post-399785","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-brooklyn-nets","9":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","10":"tag-miami-heat","11":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","12":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-toronto-raptors"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}