It’s been a relatively eventful past 48 hours for the Memphis Grizzlies.
Grizzlies trade Tyus Jones for Marcus Smart:
Late on the eve of the NBA Draft, the Grizzlies entered the trade market with a splash. Shortly after the news emerged that talks between the Boston Celtics, the Washington Wizards, and the Los Angeles Clippers regarding a possible trade involving Kristaps Porzingis had broken down, the Grizzlies entered the picture behind the scenes. It was important for Boston to finalize this move as an opt-in and trade with Porzingis before midnight or risk him declining his $36 million player option and hitting the free agency market where it would cost the Celtics more to acquire him.
When the dust had settled, Porzingis was headed to the Celtics, Tyus Jones was headed to the Wizards, and longtime Celtic Marcus Smart was now to be a Memphis Grizzly.
“Now it is official: The Memphis Grizzlies have acquired guard Marcus Smart from the Boston Celtics in a three-team trade that also involves the Washington Wizards. As part of the deal, the Grizzlies traded guard Tyus Jones to the Wizards and traded the draft rights to guard Marcus Sasser and a future first-round draft pick to the Celtics. Smart, a nine-year NBA veteran, was the 2021-22 NBA Defensive Player of the Year and has been selected to the NBA All-Defensive First Team three times. The trade also saw Washington receive forward Danilo Gallinari, center Mike Muscala, and the draft rights to forward Julian Phillips.”
Boston drafted Smart with the sixth overall pick in 2014 and, until the trade, he was their longest-tenured player. Smart has averaged 10.6 points, 4.6 assists, and 3.5 rebounds in 581 regular-season games and 12.8 points, 4.9 assists, and 4.3 rebounds in 108 games in the playoffs.
And if it is any indication of the sort of player that Memphis is getting, Boston fans are devastated to see him go, as much for his presence off the court as on it. Smart is active in the community with his YounGameChanger Foundation, which seeks to provide opportunities for inner-city athletes through mentoring and education, as well as providing support to pediatric cancer patients and their families.
Memphis parted with two late first-round picks and a player who did not fit into their long-term vision of the future in Jones, and in return gained a veteran presence with proven playoff experience who can serve as a replacement for Dillon Brooks and help carry the load during Ja Morant’s 25-game suspension to start the 2023-24 season.
The move puts the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Jaren Jackson Jr., together with the previous Defensive Player of the Year, Smart. It marks the first time in NBA history that the two most recent winners of the award will play for the same team. Factor in the return of Steven Adams and I predict it will be scary for teams against this Grizzlies’ defense in the upcoming season.
Smart is who Dillon Brooks believed he was, and this is a good pickup for Memphis. It shows the front office’s commitment to building a perennial championship contending team around the core of Morant, Jackson Jr., and Desmond Bane.
In Draft News:
In the second round of the 2023 draft, the Grizzlies picked up two players: South Carolina forward Gregory “GG” Jackson II with the number 45 pick, and Fenerbahçe wing Tarik Biberovic with the number 56 pick. Jackson was named to the 2023 SEC All-Freshman Team, averaging 15.4 points and 5.9 rebounds in 32 games last season, while Biberovic has played professionally for Fenerbahçe of the Turkish Super League for the past five years, averaging 5.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in 24 games.
It is expected that both Jackson and Biberovic will join rising sophomores David Roddy, Jake LaRavia, Kenneth Lofton Jr, and Vince Williams Jr. and suit up for the Grizzlies’ summer league squad — playing in both the Salt Lake City Summer League, which will run from July 3-6 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Las Vegas Summer League which will run from July 7-17 in Las Vegas.
