The top of the 2018 NBA Draft is absolutely loaded. The players available — even beyond players like Deandre Ayton and Luka Doncic — are viewed as guys who could potentially step in and make a difference for any franchise, whether it’s right away or because they possess a considerable amount of upside.
But what happens if a team a little further down in the draft falls in love with a player, perhaps Marvin Bagley III or Jaren Jackson Jr., who won’t be there once their pick rolls around? Enter the Memphis Grizzlies, who are reportedly viewed as the team most open to making a move.
According to Sean Deveny of Sporting News, the scuttlebutt surrounding the Grizzlies at this juncture portrays them as a team that could be talked into giving up the No. 4 pick if, of course, the price is right.
“If you have someone you like in the first few picks, they’re the first call you’d make,” one general manager told Sporting News. “They obviously were the most disappointed with the way the lottery went and the options they have now. It seems like they want to try to turn that pick into something else.
“Everyone’s going to talk before the draft, of course. But Memphis, I think they’re the ones who are going to be more ready to do something than others.”
It makes sense that Memphis would be more open to making a move than any other team in the lottery. The Grizzlies are built around two older players, Mike Conley and Marc Gasol, and unless they want to completely blow things up, it makes sense to turn a really appealing asset in a top-5 pick into pieces that can help right now. If they weren’t going to press the reset button after Conley went down with his season-ending heel injury, it stands to reason they wouldn’t want to abandon ship at this point, either.
(Via Sporting News)
