After the season is the postseason. After the postseason is transaction season. 

The real NBA offseason comes in August and September. 

But July is bustling. This week, free agency and summer league play overlap. And, while the Memphis Grizzlies were crazy-busy in the opening hour-plus of free agency, there’s still a lot of little items left on the to-do list. 

Let’s do some housekeeping.

Grizzlies podcast: Memphis free agency fireworks

The still-uncertain first step

Warning: NBA transactional/contract detail to follow. If you’ve hit your quota on that already this summer, you might want to skip to the next topic. 

Four Grizzlies transactions were reported in the first hour and change of free agency Monday evening, but none of them have actually happened yet. That’s not unusual. That’s how it works: Monday was the beginning of an NBA negotiation period. The signing period begins at 11:01 a.m., local time, on Sunday, July 6. 

In the week between, teams throughout the NBA have been hammering out actual details of transactions already reported. Apparently, a lot of trades reported separately — none involving the Grizzlies — are going to be folded into the largest-ever seven-team megatrade. You do Sudoku or crossword puzzles to keep sharp; NBA executives figure out how to thread this stuff together. 

The Grizzlies’ four reported transactions — signings of Jaren Jackson Jr., Santi Aldama, Ty Jerome and Cam Spencer — seem pretty well-settled

But as the team plays salary cap Marco Polo — first dipping under the cap to renegotiate Jackson’s current deal and extend it and then popping up above the cap to make the other signings — a specific sequence is required. 

Why Grizzlies free agent addition Ty Jerome could be big deal

And that sequence must begin with a fifth transaction that isn’t certain, at least not publicly: the one that clears the cap space to make a Jackson renegotiation possible.

It was reported that the Grizzlies will … do something … with the $13.1 million guaranteed salary of guard Cole Anthony (acquired as matching salary in when Desmond Bane was traded to Orlando) to clear this space. 

The guess here: A buyout followed by a “waive and stretch.” 

Anthony is almost certainly going to be in the NBA somewhere next season. This week has presumably been used by his representatives to scour the league and find Anthony’s landing spot.

A probable scenario is a buyout that subtracts the contract Anthony will sign with a new team (likely $2-$3 million) from the $13.1 million. The Grizzlies can then use the “waive and stretch” provision to spread the remaining salary owed to over three seasons, freeing up enough cap space this season for the Jackson deal. This would leave a little bit of ‘dead money’ on the team’s books for the next three seasons, but will clear space without the cost of any future draft picks. 

Herrington: The Grizzlies worked fast in free agency. Could they be done?

If the Grizzlies can’t negotiate a buyout with Anthony, they could end up waiving-and-stretching the full amount. And you can assume they’ve been on the lookout for a trade that will lower the cost, if not one that will move all of Anthony’s salary, one that might bring back a lower-salary player who could be waived instead. 

And for you amateur capologists out there: When these contracts are actually signed, expect some so-far-unknown details to emerge. We already know that Ty Jerome’s three-year deal has a player option in the third year, as does Jackson’s in the final year of his extension. Be on the lookout for player/team options and/or trade-kicker details. And I strongly suspect that the year-by-year numbers on Jackson’s contract will differ a little (just a little) from initial reporting. 

A big hole among the bigs

With the knowledge that starting center Zach Edey is going to miss the beginning of the season following ankle surgery, the Grizzlies had at least four windows to add another center in the NBA Draft or at the beginning of free agency, and bypassed all of them.

On at least two of these, the team almost certainly made the correct decision. 

Hill: Grizzlies drafted three ‘dawgs’ — and one’s a chef. Will new recipe pay?

In the draft’s first round, the Grizzlies moved up to take a big talent swing (Cedric Coward) at a more flexible position rather than address a short-term need at center, a position that’s already presumably filled long-term.

Check.

With the room exception in free agency, the Grizzlies signed the best player they could (Sixth Man of the Year second-runner-up Jerome) rather than the kind of fading veteran center (Atlanta’s Clint Capela, who went to Houston; Golden State’s Kevon Looney, who went to New Orleans) available in the same salary range. Capela or Looney would have helped the Grizzlies a lot this November; Jerome will likely help a lot more over the next two or three seasons. 

With two late second-round picks, the Grizzlies took two guards (Javon Small, Jahmai Mashack) rather than a center. Rookies drafted that late are unlikely to help in Year 1 and the Grizzlies apparently weren’t swayed by the available talent at center.

The questionable one is Spencer: With Anthony presumed to be waived, the Grizzlies had one open roster spot and only a minimum contract to offer. They filled the spot with Spencer — a smaller, unproven guard on a roster packed with more proven ones — rather than making an offer on a veteran center. 

If the Grizzlies are right about Spencer, this may also be the better move in the long term. And perhaps they had an agreement from the jump to move Spencer onto the main roster. Kleiman’s closing media-session citation of Spencer in late April suggested that cake was already in the oven.

But signing Spencer to this last open spot has left the Grizzlies with an unbalanced roster, and that was even before the unfortunate news that Jackson Jr. suffered a turf toe injury that will sideline him for at least 12 weeks. 

Grizzlies release initial timeline for Jaren Jackson Jr. recovery

Twelve weeks, starting now, is mostly just the NBA offseason. If the healing goes well, Jackson could theoretically begin his ‘ramp up’ around the time the Grizzlies are starting training camp. There’s a chance he’s still in the lineup on opening night, and a good chance this doesn’t linger more than a week or two into the season. 

But there’s at least some doubt, added to the certainty that Edey will miss the start of the season. The Grizzlies only have five bigs on their 15-man main roster. After Jackson and Edey, Brandon Clarke is coming off an injury and shouldn’t be counted on for heavy minutes. Aldama and Jay Huff are 7-footers, but more perimeter-oriented players. 

This roster is crying out for one more true power forward/center type, but currently has no place to put them. 

The Grizzlies could always clear a roster spot, but there’s a real cost/benefit question.

The free-agent pickings at center are now extremely slim. Unless super veteran Al Horford is coming to Memphis (doubtful), it’s a list of middling journeymen types: Jaxson Hayes, Thomas Bryant, undersized but feisty former University of Memphis Tiger Precious Achiuwa, and incumbent Grizzlies free agent Marvin Bagley III. 

Any of those players would be useful to have to begin next season, but are any worth the cost of opening up a roster spot? With Spencer just signed, perhaps John Konchar is most expendable. His contract ($13 million over two seasons) is too big to waive for a journeyman and also too potentially useful as a salary match later in the season. 

The Grizzlies will look for trades, but it’s hard to see what that would be. (I could make some up, but none I find likely.)

Summer League: The Search for the Next Huff

The Salt Lake City Summer League starts on Saturday, with the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas following next Thursday. A year ago, Huff was playing on Orlando’s summer-league team, an unsigned free agent with one season of “two-way” eligibility left. 

NBA releases Grizzlies’ Las Vegas, Salt Lake City summer league schedules

The Grizzlies liked what they saw and signed Huff to a two-way deal. He impressed enough in preseason play that they ended up moving him to the main roster. 

Even if the Grizzlies don’t add another big to their full-up main roster before the season, it seems imperative to add one (or maybe two) centers on two-way contracts who are prepared to offer some main-roster minutes. 

As of this writing, the Grizzlies haven’t released their own summer roster. Grizzlies fans who tune in will mostly be watching the Bears of Summer: Spencer and Small and Mashack. Maybe GG Jackson II? They’ll be hoping to see Coward at some point. But you can bet Grizzlies scouts will be closely watching every other team in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas this month. The next Huff might be out there somewhere. 

When will Tuomas Iisalo complete his staff?

So far, the Grizzlies have only made one announcement about new head coach Tuomas Iisalo’s staff, hiring Tennessee State head coach Brian Collins to a developmental role. 

Grizzlies hire player development coach

But we should expect to have clarity on this front soon. Iisalo has already said he will coach the summer league team, but he won’t be alone. 

The Grizzlies were among many teams reported to be interested in hiring Dallas Mavericks assistant (and former player) Jared Dudley. It was reported Wednesday that Dudley will take the lead assistant job in Denver. Perhaps that’s the domino that will allow other hires around the league to follow. 

If there’s been only one known Grizzlies coaching staff hire so far, there have been no reports of departures. Perhaps Iisalo will retain much of the staff that remained after the dismissal of Taylor Jenkins. But two assistants went out with Jenkins, leaving multiple jobs to be filled. Expect more new faces to emerge soon.

Speaking of Jenkins, he interviewed for the New York Knicks’ top job, but the Knicks hired two-time former coach of the year Mike Brown this week, filling the league’s last open head-coaching job. Will Jenkins end up as an assistant somewhere or wait for the next round of openings?

European rumors redux

This week brought another report from the European basketball media about Turkish forward Tarik Biberovic signing with the Grizzlies. 

Herrington: Grizzlies bet on potential stardom over certain return

The Grizzlies took Biberovic in the second round of the 2023 draft and retain his rights. A 6-foot-7 sharpshooter who is still only 24 years old, Biberovic has seemingly improved his NBA stock over the past couple of seasons and could well show up in a Grizzlies uniform … at some point.

But that point is highly unlikely to be next season. These European signing reports have been highly unreliable over the years, and this seems to be another case. As already noted here, the Grizzlies’ roster is full and their biggest need is at center. If the Grizzlies shake things up this summer, it will almost certainly be to address that position, not to bring in Biberovic. 

Where are they now?

A lot of former Grizzlies have been involved during the past week or so’s heavy blast of trades and signings. 

Let’s catch up with some Ol’ Pals:

• Steven Adams: Re-signed with Houston (three years, $39 million)
• Dillon Brooks: Traded to Phoenix (in the Kevin Durant deal)
• Tyus Jones: Signed with Orlando (one year, $7 million), where he’ll be teammates with Bane again
• Yuki Kawamura: On the Chicago Bulls summer league team
• Luke Kennard: Signed with Atlanta (one year, $11 million)
• Jake LaRavia: Signed with the Los Angeles Lakers (two years, $12 million)
• Kenneth Lofton Jr.: Returning from China to play for the Boston Celtics summer league team; (Lofton had hinted on social media about a Grizzlies connection that didn’t materialize.)
• Sam Merrill: Re-signed with Cleveland (four years, $38 million)
• David Roddy: On Houston’s summer league team
• Jonas Valanciunas: Traded to Denver
• Ziaire Williams: Re-signed with Brooklyn (two years, $12 million)

Still a free agent: De’Anthony Melton, who has been rehabbing from a season-ending knee injury. Melton has been widely rumored to be signing with the Lakers.