Memphis Grizzlies Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Southwest Notes: Irving, Jones, Sheppard, Kawamura

July 15th, 2025 at 8:09pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Mavericks president of basketball operations Nico Harrison said that Kyrie Irving is ahead of schedule in terms of his rehab from a torn ACL, according to Grant Afseth of the Dallas Hoops Journal.

“Kyrie’s ahead of schedule, but we kind of knew he would be because of the way he attacks his rehab,” Harrison said. “He’s going two or three times a day. As much as he wants to rush it, we don’t want him to. But he’s going to be fine.”

No timetable has been set for Irving’s return but it’s anticipated he’ll back sometime after the New Year. The team added D’Angelo Russell in free agency to handle the point guard duties while Irving is on the mend. Irving signed a three-year, $119MM contract with a player option earlier this month.

Here’s more from the Southwest Division:

The Pelicans officially re-signed Herbert Jones to three-year, $68MM extension on Monday. New executive VP of basketball operations Joe Dumars issued a statement regarding the signing that was relayed by Will Guillory of The Athletic (Twitter link). “Herb Jones exemplifies all the great qualities our team values with his toughness, competitiveness, and commitment to getting better every day. We could not be more excited to sign Herb to this contract extension and keep him in New Orleans for many years to come,” Dumars said.
Several teams have shut down prominent young players during Summer League action. The Rockets did just that with 2024 lottery pick Reed Sheppard, Kelly Iko of The Athletic tweets. Sheppard had a 28-point game against the Clippers’ Summer League squad last week.
Yuki Kawamura spent this past season on the Grizzlies’ roster as a two-way player. He wasn’t extended a qualifying offer and subsequently was added to the Bulls’ Summer League roster. Kawamura is disappointed that Memphis didn’t retain him, according to Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “I miss Memphis, for sure,” Kawamura said. “Memphis people are so nice. I wanted to play in Memphis this year, too, but it’s business. I’m satisfied right now. The Bulls organization is great. Good opportunity for me.”

Grizzlies, Santi Aldama Finalize Three-Year Deal

July 15th, 2025 at 12:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

July 15: Aldama’s three-year contract with the Grizzlies is now official, according to a press release from the team (Twitter link).

June 30: The Grizzlies have taken care of their two big pieces of offseason business within the first half-hour of free agency. After striking a deal to renegotiate and extend Jaren Jackson Jr.‘s contract, the club has reached a three-year, $52.5MM contract agreement with restricted free agent forward Santi Aldama, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).

Even with a limited number of teams able to open up enough cap space to make a competitive offer beyond the $14.1MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception, Aldama was expected to attract interest on the market. The Pistons, in particular, were heavily linked to the Spanish big man. He’ll now stick around in Memphis after a breakout season.

While the full terms of the agreement haven’t been reported yet, it’s quite possible the contract will be heavily frontloaded, cap expert Yossi Gozlan tweets. The Grizzlies could start it as high as $19MM since they have so much luxury tax flexibility. They’ll go over the cap to re-sign Aldama after using their cap space on Jackson’s renegotiation.

Aldama became an RFA when the Grizzlies extended a qualifying offer to him on Sunday.

In 2024/25, he averaged 12.5 points, 6.4 points, and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 36.8% from three, all career-high numbers. He also averaged 13.0 PPG and 6.0 RPG while shooting 41.7% from three in the Grizzlies’ four playoff games this spring.

Jackson, Aldama and 2024 lottery pick Zach Edey — currently recuperating from ankle surgery — now figure to be the key big men in Memphis for years to come.

Grizzlies Officially Sign Jock Landale

July 15th, 2025 at 11:54am CST by Luke Adams

The Grizzlies have officially completed their reported deal with center Jock Landale, announcing the signing on Tuesday in a press release (Twitter link).

Word broke on July 5 that Landale had agreed to a one-year, minimum-salary contract with Memphis after being waived by the division-rival Rockets. The Grizzlies reached a deal with the free agent big man right around the same time they agreed to trade another center Jay Huff, to Indiana.

Landale was signed by Houston in 2023 to a four-year, $32MM contract that included just one fully guaranteed season. However, the Rockets – who were operating well below the luxury tax line last season, hung onto him for the second year of the deal in 2024/25, even though he played a limited role for the team behind Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams in the frontcourt.

The 29-year-old Australian averaged 4.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in 11.9 minutes per game across 42 outings (three starts) in ’24/25. He had played a similar role a year earlier, with averages of 4.9 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 13.6 MPG (56 appearances).

Landale will provide depth in a Grizzlies frontcourt that could be missing both Jaren Jackson Jr. (turf toe surgery) and Zach Edey (ankle surgery) when training camps open in the fall. Brandon Clarke and Santi Aldama are among the club’s other options up front.

Landale’s minimum-salary contract will pay him $2,461,463, while Memphis carries a cap hit of $2,296,274.

Contract Details: Anthony, JJJ, Holmgren, J. Williams, Gafford

July 15th, 2025 at 10:55am CST by Luke Adams

Cole Anthony, whose previous cap hit had been $13.1MM, gave up exactly $2MM as part of his buyout agreement with the Grizzlies, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. Memphis subsequently used the stretch provision to spread the $11.1MM still owed to Anthony across three seasons, resulting in annual cap hits of $3.7MM through 2027/28.

The move reduced Anthony’s 2025/26 cap charge by $9.4MM, generating the cap room necessary to renegotiate Jaren Jackson Jr.‘s ’25/26 salary from roughly $23.4MM up to $35MM, as Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron tweets. That allowed the Grizzlies to give Jackson a $49MM salary (ie. a 40% raise) in the first year of his new extension, which increases to $50.5MM in 2027/28 and $52MM in ’28/29, with a $53.5MM player option for ’29/30.

Jackson is now owed exactly $240MM over the next five seasons, having received approximately $216.6MM in new money in his agreement with Memphis.

Here are a few more details on contracts from around the NBA:

Chet Holmgren‘s new five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension with the Thunder doesn’t include Rose Rule language, but Jalen Williams‘ five-year max extension does, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks at Sports Business Classroom. According to Marks, Williams’ deal will start at 30% of the 2026/27 salary cap if he wins MVP, is named Defensive Player of the Year, or makes the All-NBA first team next season. If he makes the All-NBA second team, it would start at 27% of the cap, while a spot on the All-NBA third team would result in a starting salary at 26%. No All-NBA berth, MVP, or DPOY for Williams would result in a salary worth 25% of next year’s cap, matching Holmgren’s deal.
As expected, the terms of Daniel Gafford‘s new three-year veteran extension with the Mavericks are the maximum the team could have given the big man while maintaining his trade eligibility, tweets Marc Stein. Gafford got a 20% raise for 2026/27 to $17,263,584, with 5% annual raises for the next two seasons. The new three-year contract is worth a total of $54.38MM, on top of the $14.39MM he’ll make in 2025/26.
Rockets forward Jeff Green, Spurs guard Jordan McLaughlin, and Bucks wing Gary Trent Jr. have joined the list of players who waived their right to veto a trade in 2025/26 when they re-signed with their respective teams, Hoops Rumors has learned. A player who signs a new one-year deal (or two-year deal with a second-year option) with his previous team typically gets trade veto rights for that season, but those can be forfeited as part of the contract agreement.

Grizzlies Sign Ty Jerome To Three-Year Deal

July 14th, 2025 at 6:16pm CST by Rory Maher

JULY 14: The signing is official, according to the team’s PR department (Twitter link).

JUNE 30: The Grizzlies will sign free agent guard Ty Jerome to a three-year contract worth $28MM, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The deal will include a third-year player option, Charania adds.

It has been a busy Monday evening for the Grizzlies, who had already agreed to new deals with Jaren Jackson Jr., Santi Aldama, and Cam Spencer. Jerome’s contract will come out of the room exception, which can be worth up to about $27.7MM over three seasons.

Reports leading up to free agency stated that Memphis was the frontrunner to sign Jerome, who is coming off a career year with Cleveland in which he averaged 12.5 points, 3.4 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 70 games (19.9 minutes per contest). He also posted an elite shooting line of .516/.439/.872.

While Jerome was excellent in the Cavaliers’ first-round playoff series vs. Miami, he struggled mightily on both ends of the court in their second-round loss to Indiana. That may have limited his earnings potential to an extent.

Still, it’s surprising that Jerome will “only” make $27.7MM over the next three years, considering the Cavs agreed to give another backup guard — Sam Merrill — a four-year, $38MM deal. Merrill is a better defender, but Jerome was far more productive on offense last season.

Either way, Jerome will secure the first major payday of his career as he nears his 28th birthday (July 8).

Ryan Saunders To Become Lead Assistant For Grizzlies

July 14th, 2025 at 5:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Grizzlies are hiring Ryan Saunders as their lead assistant under Tuomas Iisalo, Drew Hill of The Daily Memphian tweets.

The former head coach of the Timberwolves, Saunders had been an assistant with the Nuggets under Michael Malone since 2022. Saunders was one of several Denver assistants whose contract was not renewed after the season. He also previously worked for the Wizards.

Saunders became Minnesota’s head coach during the 2018/19 season after Tom Thibodeau was let go. He compiled a 43-94 record before losing his job in February 2021. He took some time off before landing the Denver assistant coaching job.

Iisalo had the interim tag removed as the Grizzlies’ head coach in early May. Iisalo compiled a 4-5 regular season record followed Taylor Jenkins’ surprising dismissal. After finishing as the eighth seed, the Grizzlies lost to Golden State in the first round of the play-in tournament, but advanced to the playoffs with a win over Dallas. They were swept by Oklahoma City in the first round.

Grizzlies Sign Cam Spencer To Four-Year Contract

July 14th, 2025 at 1:00pm CST by Luke Adams

1:00pm: Spencer has officially signed his new four-year contract, the Grizzlies announced this afternoon (via Twitter).

11:48am: After initially agreeing to a two-year, minimum-salary contract when free agency opened on June 30, the Grizzlies and Cam Spencer have since amended the terms of that agreement, agents Mark Bartelstein and Ross Aroyo tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

According to Charania, Spencer will now be signing a four-year, $10.5MM contract that includes three fully guaranteed seasons. The fourth year will be a team option, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.

The 53rd pick of the 2024 draft after winning a national championship with UConn, Spencer appeared in 25 games with the Grizzlies last season, averaging 4.2 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 10.1 minutes per contest. His shooting line was .415/.365/1.000.

The 25-year-old combo guard had a much bigger role in his eight G League appearances (32.2 MPG) with the Memphis Hustle in ’24/25, averaging 23.5 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 3.5 APG and 1.2 SPG on .538/.493/.765 shooting.

When the Grizzlies initially agreed to a two-year, minimum-salary deal with Spencer, they likely didn’t know whether or not they’d have to renounce his rights in order to accommodate Jaren Jackson‘s renegotiated contract.

It appears Memphis was able to hang onto Spencer’s Non-Bird rights while maintaining enough cap room for Jackson’s new deal, which will allow the club to go beyond two years and a little above the minimum for Spencer.

As we wrote earlier today, Spencer’s deal with the Grizzlies is one of four reported signings that will likely be officially completed now that Jackson’s renegotiation and extension is complete.

Reported Signings That Aren’t Yet Official

July 14th, 2025 at 11:15am CST by Luke Adams

Most of the free agent deals and all of the trades that were reported during or before the July moratorium have since been officially finalized, but there are still a handful of signings that we’re waiting on. Here’s a quick breakdown of the reported free agent contracts that have not yet been formally completed and announced:

Brooklyn Nets:

Day’Ron Sharpe (two years, $12MM)
Ziaire Williams (two years, $12MM)

The Nets are the only NBA team that still has cap room remaining, so they’re likely weighing their options for how best to use that space before officially cutting into it by signing Sharpe and/or Williams. It’s possible that one of those two contracts will eventually slot into the room exception in order to help Brooklyn maximize its cap space.

Dallas Mavericks:

Dante Exum (one year)

The Mavericks are hard-capped at the second tax apron as a result of using their taxpayer mid-level exception to sign D’Angelo Russell. Signing Exum, even for the minimum (which will likely be what his new deal is worth), would push their team salary above that hard cap, which isn’t permitted. So Dallas will need to make a cost-cutting move before officially finalizing Exum’s deal. Former first-round pick Olivier-Maxence Prosper is considered a trade candidate.

Memphis Grizzlies:

Santi Aldama (three years, $52.5MM)
Ty Jerome (three years, $27.66MM)
Cam Spencer (four years, $10.5MM)
Jock Landale (one year, minimum salary)

The Grizzlies needed to finalize Cole Anthony‘s buyout and renegotiate Jaren Jackson‘s contract using cap room before making all of these moves, which can be completed without using cap space. Anthony’s buyout and Jackson’s renegotiation both happened over the weekend, so I’d expect Memphis to start officially finalizing these signings soon — perhaps even as soon as today.

Minnesota Timberwolves:

Naz Reid (five years, $125MM)
Julius Randle (three years, $100MM)

It’s not entirely clear why the Timberwolves‘ two big deals for their power forwards have been delayed. My best guess is that Minnesota is waiting on a decision from another free agent on an offer that would use the team’s taxpayer mid-level exception.

In that scenario, the Wolves would want to get Reid’s and Randle’s first-year salaries as low as possible to ensure their team salary stays below a second-apron hard cap. If there’s not another non-minimum free agent incoming, the club could potentially increase Reid’s and Randle’s first-year salaries slightly. That’s just my speculation, however.

Many two-way deals and Exhibit 10 agreements around the NBA have also been reported and not yet finalized, but those won’t affect teams’ cap situations, so the ones above are the ones we’re keeping the closest eye on.

Grizzlies Renegotiate, Extend Jaren Jackson Jr.’s Contract

July 13th, 2025 at 6:18pm CST by Rory Maher

July 13: Jackson’s renegotiation and extension are official, the team announced (via Twitter).

June 30: The Grizzlies are expected to renegotiate and extend Jaren Jackson Jr.‘s contract, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that Memphis is giving the former Defensive Player of the Year a five-year, $240MM deal.

The forward/center’s new extension will feature a player option for the 2029/30 season, sources tell Charania (Twitter link).

It’s worth noting that the Grizzlies do not currently have the requisite cap room to renegotiate and extend Jackson at the salary that Charania reported — additional cost-cutting moves will be necessary in order to complete the transaction.

John Konchar and Cole Anthony have been rumored as salary-dump candidates, and Charania suggests (via Twitter) that Anthony will likely be the odd man out. The 25-year-old guard is on an expiring $12.9MM contract, but Charania’s reporting suggests he’ll likely be traded or bought out.

[UPDATE: Cole Anthony Agrees To Buyout With Grizzlies, Plans To Join Bucks]

Giving Jackson a lucrative new deal was long expected to be a top priority for Memphis. The 25-year-old was entering the final year of his current contract, which would have paid him about $23.4MM in ’25/26.

Based on the terms of his new deal, his salary for next season will need to be increased by nearly $10MM as part of the renegotiation — the $240MM total by Charania likely includes the $23.4MM he’s already owed for next season, so it’ll be closer to $217MM in new money.

As Keith Smith of Spotrac tweets, the Grizzlies need to trim about $7MM in payroll for next season to finalize Jackson’s deal. They’ll have access to the room version of the mid-level exception by operating below the cap, with free agent guard Ty Jerome a rumored target.

Jackson was named an All-Star for the second time last season and earned a spot on the All-Defensive Second Team. In 74 games (29.8 MPG), he averaged 22.2 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.2 SPG and 1.5 BPG, with a shooting line of .488/.375/.781.

The Grizzlies have also agreed to a three-year, $52.5MM deal with restricted free agent forward Santi Aldama, according to Charania.

Memphis has been busy this offseason, trading Desmond Bane to Orlando in a blockbuster deal that saw the Grizzlies acquire four first-round picks, one first-round swap, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Anthony. The Grizzlies then used two of those picks to move up in the draft and land Washington State wing Cedric Coward.

Ja Morant Was "Shocked" By Desmond Bane Trade

July 13th, 2025 at 8:58am CST by Arthur Hill

Grizzlies guard Ja Morant said he was surprised by the trade of longtime backcourt partner Desmond Bane and addressed a few other topics in an interview with Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal (subscriber link). “I was shocked, personally,” Morant said. “I got the message from Des. To see it all over the internet, I thought the (expletive) was fake, honestly. It’s best for both sides. Des is going to a very talented Orlando team. I feel like he’s the piece that they’ve been missing.” Morant added that the additions of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the trade and Ty Jerome in free agency should make Memphis a better team.