There are “blow it up” trades, where a team decides to start over. 

There are “complete the puzzle” trades, where a team thinks it’s one piece short and attempts to add it.

And there are “shake it up” trades, where a team tries to reorient itself in some fundamental way, in pursuit of something better. 

Memphis trades Desmond Bane

After Sunday’s surprise trade of franchise stalwart Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic for a haul of players and draft picks, the Memphis Grizzlies are all shook up.

In theory, the Grizzlies could still “blow it up.” They are now in a stronger position to pivot to that approach. But that does not seem to be the goal.

Rather, the franchise’s preference seems to be to reorient the team around Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., with more size, more defense and more flexibility, on and off the court.

If the trade of Bane was a surprise, it was short of a shock.

At the team’s season-closing media session in late April, general manager Zach Kleiman noted that while “there’s been so much good over the years here” for a team built around Morant, Bane and Jackson, the franchise would have to be willing “to be more uncomfortable.”

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Kleiman asserted that the team was “not close” to contention, and while he was complimentary of his core, both collectively and individually, he stopped notably short of insisting he’d be keeping it together. 

At the same time, Kleiman reiterated that the team would not be trading Morant and suggested signing Jackson to a new contract was a priority. This left many wondering about the prospect of a Bane deal.

But Bane was perhaps the jewel of Kleiman’s transactional tenure, a near-All-Star player he’d conjured out of thin air, drafting Bane with the No. 30 pick in the 2020 draft, a pick acquired in a trade with the Boston Celtics for little more than the willingness to take on a few million in dead-weight salary.

From such an inauspicious beginning, Bane quickly became one of the league’s better shooters, and expanded his scoring palette beyond his deft 3-point shooting. In addition to becoming arguably a Top 50 player in the league on the court, Bane was a rock off of it, a measured but steely locker-room leader. 

The departure of Bane’s scoring and his presence both leave massive holes. 

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What the Grizzlies got

The Grizzlies did not get a player as good as Bane. There aren’t many of those. But they did get an awful lot. Let’s list it, and then break it down a little:

• Scoring guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ($21.6 million in 2025-2026, with a player option in 2026-2027)
• Point guard Cole Anthony ($13.1 million in 2025-2026, with a team option in 2026-2027)
• #16 pick in the 2025 draft
• 2026 first-round pick (likely via Orlando or Phoenix)
• 2028 first-round pick (via Orlando, unprotected)
• 2029 first-round pick swap (with Orlando, lightly protected)
• 2030 first-round pick (via Orlando, unprotected)

Caldwell-Pope was the starting scoring guard on the Denver Nuggets title team a couple of years ago. He’s been among the better “3-and-D” wing players of his generation, but slumped last season, his first in Orlando, shooting 34% from 3. He’ll also turn 33 next season. 

But Caldwell-Pope shot better than 38% from 3 in each of the previous five seasons. The Grizzlies will bet, in part, that last season’s shooting was an anomaly, not a decline. If he’s retained into the season, which seems likely, Caldwell-Pope is a decent bet to start.

Anthony, still only 25, has been among the NBA’s more productive backup point guards over the past few seasons. If he’s retained into the season, which seems more uncertain, Anthony would add ball-handling depth, which was already a need the team was seeking to fill.

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But Anthony is overqualified to be just a third-string point guard, behind Morant and Scotty Pippen Jr. In the short term, this could see Pippen spending more time at scoring guard or could see Anthony on the move again. 

Caldwell-Pope and Anthony are both quality rotation players with experience and a reputation for toughness. Crucially, they are also both on reasonable, short-term contracts that could make either a good building block for a future trade. 

And, now, the Grizzlies are in a very strong position to add value to trades via draft picks. The No. 16 pick in this month’s draft puts the Grizzlies in a range of the draft that’s well-regarded. Going forward, the Grizzlies already had access to all of their own future first-round picks. This deal adds three more, all unprotected. The team will also now have multiple pick-swap rights in place that could enhance the value of their picks. 

Why the Grizzlies did it

In retrospect, Kleiman was being candid about the team’s core, in the franchise’s estimation, being not quite good enough. With a likely extension for Jackson coming, the team would have Morant, Bane and Jackson all locked into max-level contracts, which would have hardened this “good but not good enough” ceiling.

This deal alone does not seem to make the Grizzlies better, but it clears a path to potentially get there.

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Setting aside unique, all-world talents such as Nikola Jokic, LeBron James or Giannis Antetokounmpo, there are three types of players most important to winning at the highest levels:

The lead guard who can be the engine of a team’s offense.

That’s Ja Morant.

The kind of big man who can anchor a team’s defense while being versatile enough offensively to stay on the floor. 

That’s Jaren Jackson Jr.

Big, defensively talented wing players who allow lineup flexibility.

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The Grizzlies have been searching for that kind of player for years now. The search likely continues, with more resources now. 

Bane, by contrast, was one of the best players in the NBA at one of the league’s least valuable, most easily replaceable player types: The single-position scoring guard.

Caldwell-Pope may fill that role in the short term. The Grizzlies could already have their long-term answer there: Second-year wing Jaylen Wells, perhaps playing slightly out of position at small forward last season. 

Having Bane on a near-max contract limited the team’s financial flexibility. But the bigger issue was that pairing Morant and Bane in a backcourt boxed the Grizzlies into a smaller, defensively limited backcourt. It was good it may have been a roadblock to better. Better is, of course, not guaranteed.

But in apparently committing to a Morant-centric team, the Grizzlies could be seeking more size and defense to put around him. Starting Morant and Bane together always necessitated having a small forward who spent most of his time checking lead guards. Dillon Brooks did that. So did Wells. But it created mismatches elsewhere. It kept the team small.

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This trade doesn’t give the Grizzlies that different kind of team. But they’re no longer locked into the prior formulation. And they now have more paths to find what they seem to want. 

Where it leaves the team going into the summer

If the future seems more open, the present hasn’t changed that much.

The Grizzlies will presumably still be looking to reach a renegotiate-and-extend deal with Jackson and will still have work to do. Maybe even more now. Swapping Bane ($36.7 million next season) for Caldwell-Pope and Anthony shaves $2 million in salary for next season, but the salary for the No. 16 pick would add about $4 million if the team keeps it. 

If the Grizzlies pursue this extension route with Jackson, the team will remain in the same position in terms of re-signing Santi Aldama, who will likely be a restricted free agent, and in free agency, where the team would likely be limited to the $8.8 million “room” exception. 

If Anthony is retained, the team would no longer have a need at backup point guard. They still have a potential need at center to help cover Zach Edey’s injury absence to begin next season. And the hunt for bigger, better wing players is never-ending. 

For now, the Grizzlies’ depth chart might look something like this. “UFA” is an unrestricted free agent. “RFA” is a restricted free agent. “2W” is a two-way contract. 

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Whether it happens this summer or later, one imagines the Grizzlies would like a depth chart that can add more size on the wing, pushing both Pippen and Wells to the left. They would also like to ultimately replace Bane with a better “third-best” player than anyone now on the roster.

What could be next?

If this trade suggests the start of a new process rather than the end of one, what and when are the next steps?

Even if the Grizzlies negotiate the Jaren Jackson Jr. contract extension this summer, that would only take the team up to the salary cap line, including a nearly $12 million cap hold on Aldama. That would still leave $33 million in room under the luxury tax line. 

Trade rules have loosened to allow teams to take back more salary in trades. The Grizzlies have room to add salary and the trove of draft picks to drive trades. One assumes they’ll be on the lookout to further remake the roster via trade, but that doesn’t have to happen this summer. 

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Breaking Bane’s deal into two smaller ones in Caldwell-Pope and Anthony gives the team more trade flexibility. Here, they’re joined by Clarke, making $12.5 million in each of the next two seasons. 

The Grizzlies could add to this store of mid-sized contracts this summer by re-signing Aldama and/or using the $8.8 million “room” exception. 

These contracts and the now-plentiful store of future draft assets would put the Grizzlies in a prime position to deal, not only this summer, but into the season and into next summer as well.

These picks could also simply replenish talent that ages or prices out over time. The needed impact wing could come from one of them. It could still be GG Jackson. 

But it feels like this trade demands at least one other significant follow-up one. And trading for impact veterans has been the area where the Grizzlies’ front office has struggled most in recent seasons.

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Ultimately, Kleiman decided the team he had was too limited.

With this trade, he bought the franchise an opportunity to build a higher-ceiling team around Morant and Jackson Jr.. 

He also practiced what he preached in April. He got uncomfortable.

The Grizzlies bought themselves an opportunity. But also a challenge.