An era came to an end for the Grizzlies in 2018/19, as the franchise moved on from longtime center Marc Gasol in a deadline deal. With a potential rebuild looming, Memphis now must determine whether the time is right to trade Gasol’s longtime running mate Mike Conley, or whether the veteran point guard can still be a cornerstone piece going forward.
Here’s where things currently stand for the Grizzlies financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2019:
Guaranteed Salary
- Mike Conley ($32,511,624)
- Chandler Parsons ($25,102,512)
- Kyle Anderson ($9,073,050)
- C.J. Miles ($8,730,158): Exercised player option
- Jaren Jackson ($6,927,480)
- Avery Bradley ($2,000,000) — Partial guarantee. Non-guaranteed portion noted below. 1
- Jevon Carter ($1,416,852)
- Dakari Johnson ($459,414) — Waived via stretch provision
- Ivan Rabb ($371,758) — Partial guarantee. Non-guaranteed portion noted below. 2
- Julian Washburn (two-way) 3
- Yuta Watanabe (two-way) 3
- Total: $86,592,848
Player Options
- Jonas Valanciunas ($17,617,976)
- Total: $17,617,976
Team Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Avery Bradley ($10,960,000) 1
- Bruno Caboclo ($1,845,301) 4
- Dillon Brooks ($1,618,520) 5
- Ivan Rabb ($1,246,762) 2
- Total: $15,670,583
Restricted Free Agents
- Delon Wright ($3,635,375 qualifying offer / $7,610,694 cap hold): Bird rights
- Tyler Dorsey ($1,818,486 qualifying offer / $1,818,486 cap hold): Early Bird rights
- Total: $9,429,180
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- No. 2 overall pick ($8,718,960)
- Justin Holiday ($5,700,001): Early Bird rights
- Joakim Noah ($1,618,486): Non-Bird rights
- Tyler Zeller ($1,618,486): Non-Bird rights
- Total: $13,792,773
Projected Salary Cap: $109,000,000
Projected Tax Line: $132,000,000
Offseason Cap Outlook
- Realistic cap room projection: $0
- Although the Grizzlies only have about $86.5MM in guaranteed salaries on their books, they’re unlikely to create cap room – barring cost-cutting moves – due to Valanciunas’ option and the cap hold for their first-round pick.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Trade exception: $1,544,951 (expires 7/17/19)
- Trade exception: $2,416,222 (expires 7/23/19)
- Trade exception: $8,000,000 (expires 2/7/20)
- Trade exception: $1,512,601 (expires 2/7/20)
- Mid-level exception: $9,246,000 6
- Bi-annual exception: $3,619,000 6
Footnotes
- Bradley’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 3.
- Rabb’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 15.
- The salaries for two-way players don’t count against a team’s cap.
- Caboclo’s salary becomes partially guaranteed ($300K) after July 10.
- Brooks’ salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 5.
- These are projected values. In the unlikely event the Grizzlies use cap room, they’d lose these exceptions (and their trade exceptions) and would instead would gain access to the $4,760,000 room exception.
Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and RealGM was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Chandler Parsons the goat when it comes to getting paper for doing nothing. Memphis should trade Conley for an expiring and young player and/or pick. They’ll then have a ton of cap room next summer for 2020. If the Clippers get Kawhi I could see them trading Gallo, Jerome Robinson and a pick for him. They’d be a defensive force with him, Kawhi and SGA.