On Monday morning, during a daily segment on local radio, I was asked whether I liked the Memphis Grizzlies’ trade of guard Desmond Bane. 

Never has “it depends” been a more certain, declarative answer. 

In seeking to shake up the team around co-stars Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., the Grizzlies merely traded Bane for a collection of tools. Using those tools to finish building something that the team hopes will be better? That work remains to be done. 

Potential Grizzlies targets with first-round draft pick, if they don’t trade it

The Grizzlies got “good value” for Bane. But good value doesn’t win games. Good players do. 

The team’s toolbox, if not its roster, is now fully outfitted. The Bane trade instantly reframes the Grizzlies’ summer from one with limited means to add players, mostly through free agency, to one with theoretically unlimited means, mostly via trade. 

What do you need to be aggressive in the NBA trade market? The Grizzlies now have it.

Contracts: In breaking Bane’s $36.7 million salary for next season into the smaller ones of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ($21.6 million) and Cole Anthony ($13.1 million), the Grizzlies have much more ability to build out salary matches for different kinds of trades. 

Under NBA trade rules, the Grizzlies could trade Anthony individually for a player making up to $20.6 million and Caldwell-Pope for a player making up to $29.1 million. NBA rules would delay the Grizzlies’ ability to trade either together or alongside another player until later in the summer, but at that point, the Grizzlies could raise the amount of salary return by pairing Anthony and Caldwell-Pope again or with other players on the roster.

Grizzlies Podcast: Breaking down the Desmond Bane deal

Additionally, the Grizzlies already have Brandon Clarke ($12.5 million) on a mid-sized contract. Santi Aldama’s restricted free agency could result in a sign-and-trade deal this summer or in another mid-sized contract that could be traded later. The team’s $8.8 million room exception will likely still be used, in part or in full, on a player to add to the rotation, but that player will bring another tradable contract. 

Draft assets: If the Grizzlies can choose among or combine contracts to get to just about any kind of salary match, they can now add value via draft assets, with the No. 16 pick in this summer’s draft, all of their own future first-round picks and three additional future first-round picks acquired in the Bane trade. These include a 2026 pick subject to enormously complicated swap rights that is likely (not certain) to be the more valuable of either Orlando’s or Phoenix’s pick.

Young talent: The Grizzlies also have a wide range of talented young players on small multi-year contracts that could be included in deals, from the very unlikely to be made available (Zach Edey, Jaylen Wells, Scotty Pippen Jr.) to the, well, less unlikely to be made available (GG Jackson II, Vince Williams Jr.). 

Flexibility to absorb salary: Crucially, with likely more than $30 million in space below the luxury tax line even after a potential renegotiation and extension for Jackson Jr., the Grizzlies can take back more salary in trades than they send out.

A welcome but complicating factor here is that the Grizzlies also have an extended window to use most of these assets. The Anthony and Caldwell-Pope (and Clarke) contracts each run for two more seasons, with a team option on Anthony’s last season. Any new contract for Aldama or for a free agent signing is also likely to extend at least two seasons. 

Herrington: Grizzlies’ Desmond Bane trade invites opportunity and risk

Among the draft assets, only the No. 16 pick in this summer’s draft has a near-term expiration date. That means the Grizzlies could look to make further moves this summer or carry some or most of these assets to next February’s trade deadline or even into next summer. 

The Grizzlies will likely find themselves asking how good is good enough to pounce rather than wait. How good does a trade available now need to be to spend assets that could be used on something better later? This is likely to be a sliding scale based on how many and which assets are required to make a trade. 

And it may depend on the franchise’s shifting faith in the present. A big move at this season’s trade deadline may depend on how well the team is doing. How healthy and effective is Ja Morant? How fully has a currently injured Zach Edey returned to form? 

As I noted on Sunday, the Bane trade also gives the Grizzlies more flexibility to pivot into a full rebuild in the event they can’t lock up Jackson Jr. on a new contract or things go awry with Morant. But that seems to be an available escape hatch, not the primary objective. 

This may seem like a lengthy preamble to the fun of the speculative trade targets below. But, here, the appetizer is the real meal. Maybe one of these potential trades happens this summer. Maybe not. But this is the landscape the Grizzlies are now navigating. 

Memphis trades Desmond Bane

Big swings/Long shots

Let’s get these out of the way first. 

There are three big stars on big contracts heavily involved in trade speculation this summer: Phoenix’s Kevin Durant ($54.7 million), Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo ($57.6 million) and Boston’s Jaylen Brown ($53.1). 

Durant is, by far, the most likely to be traded, probably soon. And the Grizzlies have made offers for him multiple times in the past. But they don’t seem to be a factor this time. If the Grizzlies do get involved in a Durant deal, it’s more likely to be as a third team or as part of some kind of spin-off deal. That the Grizzlies now have some control over the Suns’ 2026 draft pick (via the Bane trade) gives them a potential toehold if the Suns acquire something for Durant that’s of interest to the Grizzlies. 

I don’t think Antetokounmpo’s getting traded anywhere this summer or to the Grizzlies at any time. That said, a combination of Caldwell-Pope, Anthony and Clarke is enough for a salary match and the Grizzlies could now put a boatload of draft assets on the table. If the team harbored any kind of shot-in-the-dark hope of making a bid for Antetokounmpo in-season, they’d want to mostly maintain those assets until then. I wouldn’t wait on that. 

Any offer for Brown would also need to wait until aggregating Caldwell-Pope and Anthony is allowed. You can imagine a combo of players and picks that would make a viable offer, but it still feels far-fetched. 

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Perhaps less far-fetched: Brown’s Celtics teammate Derrick White ($28.1 million). White will be 31 this season and is a 6-foot-4 guard. I don’t think flipping most of what they got for Bane only to acquire a player who is both smaller and older is really what the Grizzlies have in mind … but White is really good. He’d be a defensive upgrade on a smaller salary. Caldwell-Pope for White is a salary match that would allow Boston to immediately shave a big chunk off of their luxury-tax bill. 

The younger, bigger New Orleans small forward Trey Murphy III ($25 million) is a more obvious subject of interest for the Grizzlies, but there’s never been any indication that the Pelicans will make him available. Could — or would — the Grizzlies make an offer big enough? 

The Grizzlies have offered a bunch of picks in the past for current New York small forward Mikal Bridges ($24.9 million). Would they do so again? There’s been some suggestion the Knicks might be willing to move Bridges, who will be a free agent next summer. Even if he were available, is Bridges still worth the potential cost — in draft picks and then an immediate big new contract — to the Grizzlies?

What could Cole Anthony and a pick (or two) get you?

I’d be surprised to see the Grizzlies swing that big this soon. But they might now have enough in contract and draft assets to split the baby: to use one contract and one or two draft picks on an immediate lineup upgrade while retaining enough to keep open the option of making a bigger deal later on. 

The most obvious trade package for the Grizzlies to shop immediately: Anthony’s $13.1 million deal and a first-round pick (or two). 

Grizzlies Insider: What centers could Memphis target in NBA Draft?

The range of useful players this offer could theoretically fetch is a long one, but there are a handful that seem particularly worth noting. 

The Dallas Mavericks need guard help and have a couple of players on expiring contracts who might play a bigger role for the Grizzlies: Combo forward P.J. Washington ($14.2 million), who overlaps positionally with presumed top draft pick Cooper Flagg, and center Daniel Gafford ($14.4), who is now behind both Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II on the Mavs’ depth chart.

Anthony and a first-rounder for either is a reasonable idea for both teams. Would the Grizzlies be willing to part with more than one first-rounder for even a very good role player on an expiring contract? Washington, in particular, is someone the team might be able to sign to a contract extension. 

New Orleans’ Herb Jones ($13.9 million) overlaps with the aforementioned Murphy, and flipping him for a decent draft pick or two would be smart for New Orleans, but they’ve so far resisted that kind of move. 

There are a couple of interesting young forwards from teams that missed the West playoffs last season: Sacramento’s Keegan Murray ($11.1 million) and Portland’s Deni Avdija ($14.4 million). There’s no indication that either is available, but both are worth a call. Avdjia, in particular, would command a steep return if Portland were willing to deal.

Herrington: Zach Edey injury adds to already challenging Grizzlies summer

Minnesota’s Nickeil Alexander-Walker is a restricted free agent that Minnesota is perhaps unlikely to retain. Perhaps he could be a sign-and-trade target now, but there are hurdles, and I suspect the Grizzlies would aim for bigger and/or better if they’re using significant assets. 

A deal that could make some sense without any draft assets attached: Anthony for Milwaukee power forward/center Bobby Portis ($13.4 million player option). The Bucks need a point guard after the injury loss of Damian Lillard. The Grizzlies need to cover center minutes after an injury to Zach Edey. It could be a match. 

Some other interesting players who are potential salary matches for Anthony: New York’s Josh Hart, Golden State’s Moses Moody, Cleveland’s Max Strus, Chicago’s Kevin Huerter and Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart. 

Higher-salary targets

The Grizzlies seem to have a stronger interest in retaining Caldwell-Pope than Anthony, but offering Caldwell-Pope in trades this summer expands the list of potential targets, raising the ceiling on incoming salary to nearly $30 million. 

But other than the aforementioned trio of White, Bridges and Murphy, I’m not sure the potential targets in this salary range are much — if any — more interesting than the lower-salary group.

Herrington: With Edey out, which centers could the Grizzlies target?

Brooklyn’s Cameron Johnson ($21.2 million), long a subject of Grizzlies-related speculation, is just barely outside the range of a match for Anthony. Rather than Caldwell-Pope, he could be acquired for Anthony and a smaller contract later in the summer. But if the Grizzlies have been reluctant to spend major assets on Johnson before. Why will that be different now?

Some other small forwards in the Caldwell-Pope salary range, though none of them feel like a good match of buyer and seller this summer: San Antonio’s Devin Vassell ($27 million), Cleveland’s De’Andre Hunter ($23.3 million), Sacramento’s DeMar DeRozan ($24.6 million), Toronto’s RJ Barrett ($27.7 million) and Miami’s Andrew Wiggins ($28.2 million)

Make them say no?

Is there a younger, lower-salary, more speculative player out there that the Grizzlies would deem such an ideal addition that they’d pile up their bounty of draft picks for them? That they’d try to construct an offer the other team just can’t refuse?

There’s absolutely no indication of anything like this, but then, there wouldn’t be. Friend of the column Matt Hrdlicka, on his Grizzlies-oriented Patreon page, mentioned recent Charlotte lottery pick Brandon Miller in this context recently. That’s a good one. The Detroit Pistons have a couple of hyper-athletic young small forwards worth keeping an eye on: Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland. 

But my subject of entirely speculative intrigue: Portland’s Toumani Camara, a recent second-round pick who’s quickly emerging as an elite, explosive 3-and-D small forward. How many first-round picks would it take? The Grizzlies now have an awful lot of them.