It’s mid-July and we’re inching (mercifully?) towards the true dead zone on the NBA calendar, when summer league is over, coaches are hired and rosters are completed … mostly. 

There’s still some notable work to be done around the league. Name-brand veteran free agents Chris Paul and Al Horford remain unsigned. And stalemates continue with a few young restricted free agents: Golden State’s Jonathan Kuminga, Chicago’s Josh Giddey, Brooklyn’s Cam Thomas and Philadelphia’s Quentin Grimes. 

But while some of those players may still change uniforms this summer, odds are strong that none of them will be wearing Beale Street Blue. 

Focus is on Mashack, Magnay as Grizzlies fall in summer league play

The Memphis Grizzlies have likely put a bow on the 15-man main roster they’ll take into training camp this fall, and with recent official additions to both their “two-way” contract allotment and coaching staff, the team is seemingly close to completing its puzzle. 

As this is written, there are still a few days left in the Las Vegas Summer League, but with a family vacation beckoning, it’s over for me. So, here are a few notes for the road on the Grizzlies’ summer league and the franchise’s recent batch of official contract signings.

Summer League

The Bears of Summer haven’t exactly been in hibernation, but it’s been a sleepier than usual season for this annual ritual.

The would-be showcase player, recent lottery pick Cedric Coward, was kept out of competition as he continues rehabbing from a shoulder injury suffered in his final college season. And the first of the Grizzlies’ two second-round picks, point guard Javon Small, played only one game at the start of the Salt Lake City Summer League before also being shut down for injury reasons. 

But the Grizzlies have had three main-roster players and one other fresh draft pick in the mix, with an apparent open search for a two-way-contract-eligible big man yielding meager public results. Through three games in Salt Lake City and three more in Las Vegas, some quick notes on them all:

Jahmai Mashack: The last pick in the draft has played this summer without a two-way deal in place, but has made a strong case to get one of the two remaining open spots. Mashack’s reputation was as a disruptive defender, and he’s been that, averaging 3.5 stocks (steals + blocks) through his first four summer games, while also putting up meaningful rebounding production in three of four games. 

Mashack also had the reputation of being close to a non-entity on offense, and he’s successfully countered that intel this summer: Mashack has made a promising 5 of 11 3-point attempts through four summer games while notching 18 assists.

It’s only four summer games, but a get-after-it defender who can move the ball and is a threat to make an open shot? That’s a good role player recipe, and Mashack seems to have really helped himself this summer. 

GG Jackson II: It’s rare for an under-contract third-year roster player to suit up for an entire summer league. But it’s rarer still for such a player to be the youngest member of a summer roster. 

Jackson remains an anomaly, and he’s had a successful summer, seemingly regaining some franchise momentum after a rough second season.

What’s been best about Jackson in summer play has been his decisiveness on offense. He’s playing as a scorer, but not as a ball dominator. He’s been making quicker decisions: Catch and shoot. Catch and swing the ball to the open man. Catch and attack, often finishing with power at or above the rim. 

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The best Jackson indicator through four summer games is that he’s shot 68% (21-31) on two-point attempts while committing only six turnovers. His 3-point shot has been erratic (32%), but in a small sample. Defensively, Jackson’s had a few noticeably bad moments and a couple of noticeably good ones, but there’s only so much these games will tell us on that end. 

Overall, it’s been a positive summer for Jackson. 

Jaylen Wells: After finishing third in the Rookie of the Year race, Wells has had a productive summer but has not stood out as one of the best players. He has not looked “too good for summer league.”

Is that a reason for concern? Not really. Wells came out of his rookie season with an unusually firm role: He’s a “3-and-D” role player on the wing, someone who takes on tough defensive assignments and spaces the floor to give more skilled offensive players room to operate.

Wells may well continue to get better in that role, but it’s unlikely his game expands much beyond it. And it’s not the skill set of a guy who’s going to take over in the freewheeling environment of summer play. 

That said, Wells has been fine. He’s scored in double figures in all five games he’s played to this point, topping 20 in three of them. He’s shot 35% from 3 overall. That’s in line with his rookie shooting, and, yes, does need to tick up a little. There wasn’t much to learn here, but Wells spent more time with coaches and teammates, and there’s value in that. 

Cam Spencer: Welcome to the main roster, Cam Spencer. The second-year guard has probably been the most consistently productive player on the team, scoring at least 14 points in all five games he’s played. He’s been drilling outside shots, knocking down 16 of his 31 3-point attempts (52%), but has shot under 50% on two-point attempts. While forced to play as more of a ball-handling guard in Small’s absence, Spencer has notched as many turnovers as assists.

Spencer is a real gamer and a real shot-maker, at the least. He’ll get tested more come preseason. 

The big man search: The Grizzlies brought in a couple of older players with international pro experience in 27-year-old Australian Will Magnay and 26-year-old former University of Alabama player Alex Reese, but they’ve combined to play only one summer game amid injury issues. 

Both seem to be candidates for a two-way slot, but whether either ends up claiming a spot, their presence is a pretty good indicator of where the Grizzlies are looking for at least one of those two-ways: A more experienced front-court player who can add serviceable depth, particularly early in the season while Zach Edey is recovering from ankle surgery. 

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Memphis Hustle incumbent Armando Bacot has played more, and has been reasonably productive. Maybe he’s also in the mix here. 

But the Grizzlies are almost certainly casting about for other options, too, and summer has not turned up a Jay Huff type: A free agent center with remaining two-way eligibility who can clearly offer good NBA minutes. 

Cleaning up the contracts

The dam broke on the Grizzlies contract front in the past week, when the team reached a buyout agreement with trade acquisition Cole Anthony, allowing the franchise to finally clear the cap space to renegotiate and extend Jaren Jackson Jr.’s contract. And that allowed the team to finalize four free agency agreements. 

Some quick housekeeping notes on all five, for those playing salary capologist at home:

Cole Anthony buyout/Jaren Jackson Jr. signing: Anthony only gave back $2 million on his buyout. The Grizzlies did a “waive and stretch” on the remaining $11.1 million Anthony was owed, allowing them to spread the salary cap hit over three seasons and open up enough immediate space to re-negotiate with Jackson. 

The result is that the Grizzlies will have $3.7 million in “dead money” on their books from the Anthony stretch in each of the next three seasons. 

Jackson’s new contract ends up totaling $240 million over five seasons, which is the number that was initially reported, but is not quite the “max” available, which was also initially reported. Jackson’s deal starts a hair shy of the max allowed and then has 3% raises, meaningfully lower than the maximum allowed 8% raises. While it’s unclear how the negotiation played out, it seems like the Grizzlies perhaps saved a little money with the lower raises while Jackson got a player option in the contract’s final season. 

Cam Spencer: Rather than the initially reported two-year, $4.5 million agreement, Spencer ended up signing a four-year deal for $10.5 million, with the Grizzlies getting a team option in the fourth season. This is the kind of contract the Grizzlies have tended to give players being elevated from two-ways (see: Huff, Scotty Pippen Jr., Vince Williams Jr., etc.). But for a contract to be for more than two years, it has to be for more than a minimum salary and has to be done with either a free agency exception or with salary cap space. 

The Grizzlies initially reached a two-year minimum agreement with Spencer because they were planning to use all of their free agency exception on Ty Jerome and wanted to preserve the ability to use all the cap space they could create for Jackson Jr. 

But between the Anthony waive-and-stretch and the trade of Huff, the Grizzlies created more space than they needed for the Jackson Jr. deal, and had enough left over to sign Spencer using cap space, enabling the longer contract. 

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Santi Aldama: Aldama’s three-year, $52.5 million contract includes a team option in the final year. There has not been reporting on contract structure, but I continue to assume it will be structured to start high and decline (modestly) after the first season, taking advantage of the ample space the Grizzlies have below the luxury tax line this season. 

Ty Jerome: We already knew that Jerome’s three-year, $27.7 million deal included a player option in the final year. The new detail that emerged after signing: It also has a 15% trade kicker, meaning that Jerome’s salary would increase by 15% were the Grizzlies to trade him. At this salary level, the trade kicker doesn’t present much complication, but the Grizzlies did not sign Jerome with an eye on later trading him. 

Jock Landale: Landale signed a one-year deal at the veteran’s minimum, as expected.