NBA Draft Trade Rumor SZN Continues, This Time Involving Chandler Parsons
(CBS) – The Memphis Grizzlies find themselves in an unfamiliar spot this June: The NBA Draft lottery. But apparently they’re not dead set on staying there.
After making the playoffs for seven straight seasons, the Grizz fell on hard times this year as the Grit ‘N Grind era officially came to a close. A season-ending injury to Mike Conleyleft Memphis in a losing spiral, and it ended up with a 22-60 record, which earned the franchise the No. 4 pick in the draft. However, leading up to next Thursday, Memphis is exploring trade options for that pick, provided that the other team is willing to take on Chandler Parsons’ contract. Via The Athletic’s Michael Scotto:
The Memphis Grizzlies have gauged the trade market on a package of Chandler Parsons and the No. 4 overall pick, league sources told The Athletic.
Parsons, who has missed 94 combined games over the past two seasons, is owed $49.2 million guaranteed over the next two seasons.
Not only is Chandler Parsons in fact still in the NBA, if you are to believe these rumors he finds himself on the trade block with about a week until the NBA Draft. If you weren’t even sure if Parsons was still in the league, I don’t blame you. He’s played just 70 games total in his two years in Memphis, and in his 7 year career has never played more than 76 in a season which he did once. During those early HOU years Parsons looked like one of the best SF’s in the league. He has great size (6’10) and was a legit scoring threat both from the field and from deep. Then Mark Cuban signed him to that big deal while in the club
and from then on things have really gone downhill. He was decent in his short two years in DAL, but never really stayed healthy. So when MEM came to the table with a 4/$94M offer in 2016, you could say it was one of the more impressive finesses in NBA history. I mean Parsons has never been an All Star, and yet he’s being paid like one. Can’t hate on that. Well here we are two years later and it’s clear the Grizzlies obviously regret their decision. So much so, they apparently are now putting their 4th overall pick on the market in hopes that someone will take on his remaining salary. So let’s play the game, if this pick really is up for grabs, who should bite?
You have someone like SAC, who could be interested and then end up with the #2 and #4 pick in this year’s draft where everyone wants to be in the high lottery. You want to talk about a quick rebuild, those are two GIANT chips that could help. Then there’s a team like CLE who I could potentially see kicking the tires knowing they are about to face a long brutal rebuild themselves. Also if you’re the Knicks, I think you give this serious thought as well. You think longterm and say OK we’ll take these bad contracts on that all expire in 2020, but by that time you have this year’s player to pair with Porzingis/Frankie Nicotine/THJ as the only ones under contract. The Knicks know they can’t contend for a few years anyway, so this wouldn’t be the worst idea if you think about it.
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Parsons is still relatively young (turns 30 this year) and you never know, perhaps he is over the hump in terms of his brutal injuries and just looked awful last year because the Grizzlies were so injured. I think his market will be better than most people think just because of how valuable two way wing players are in today’s NBA, and if it comes with a top 5 pick it may be worth the gamble.
We see a lot of rumors this time of year, but I think there is serious weight to this one. If the Grizzlies can still bring in a semi high lottery pick and shed this salary, suddenly their future looks a little bit better considering Gasol is nearing the end and who knows what the deal is with Conley’s health. I’d rather have the high pick + cap space than Parsons + 4th pick.
But what say you, who would you want to see pull the trigger on a deal like this?