The Memphis Grizzlies’ offseason shuffle may have created a small opening for the Indiana Pacers, even if the odds of anything dramatic are slim.
Memphis is sitting on 19 players after finalizing its last trade of the offseason, a deal that sent AJ Johnson and Taj Gibson out in exchange for Micah Peavy, Jordan Hawkins, and a collection of second-round picks. That leaves the Grizzlies four over the roster limit, which means they’ll need to trim at least four players before the season begins.
The expectation is that Memphis won’t chase another trade to solve the issue. Instead, the cleaner path appears to be releasing the extras into free agency. The names most likely to be on that list are D'Angelo Russell, Kris Murray, and two of Micah Peavy, Jordan Hawkins, and Walter Clayton Jr.
From Indiana’s perspective, none of those players screams trade target. And if Clayton Jr. were actually cut just one year after being drafted in the first round after his heroics at Florida, that would be a real shock. Still, if the cost is nothing, there’s no reason not to see whether one of them could be tucked onto the roster, or at least into the G-League pipeline.
The logic is simple: if a player is available, the assumption is that he probably isn’t that special. Teams don’t usually let good players walk for free, as the source pointed out with a nod to Damian Lillard.
But for a Pacers team trying to keep adding young talent and extend this run, even a low-risk swing can matter. The only way to get younger is to keep betting on the second-draft type of hit.
Among the three most interesting names, Walter Clayton Jr. might be the most intriguing. He’d project as a younger version of Andrew Nembhard - a shot maker and another older prospect who could eventually help a bench unit as both a shooter and defender. That kind of role wouldn’t necessarily arrive right away, but his upside is the highest simply because there’s still the most unknown there.
Jordan Hawkins brings a more obvious calling card. He’d give Indiana the shooting specialist it would need, though the tradeoff is pretty clear: very little else. His shot has also dipped since a strong rookie year that earned him rotation minutes, which makes him a more complicated bet than he once looked.
Kris Murray seems the least likely of the group to be a real fit. He entered the league as a late first-round pick for the Portland Trail Blazers, while his brother Keegan went much higher as a top-four pick for the Sacramento Kings. Kris hasn’t shown himself to be a major difference-maker, but he could still serve as a regular season innings-eater.
And that’s really the appeal here. Basketball seasons wear down rosters fast, and bench players are often pushed into bigger jobs when injuries hit.
Any of these three could wind up being useful in that kind of spot. For a Pacers team looking for cheap ways to add talent, that alone makes the situation worth watching.
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