https://syndication.bleacherreport....move-gasol-jordan-mirotic-and-others.amp.html
Memphis Grizzlies Receive: SF/PF Maurice Harkless, C Meyers Leonard, C Jusuf Nurkic, 2018 lottery-protected first-round pick, 2019 second-round pick (via Los Angeles Lakers or Minnesota Timberwolves)
Portland Trail Blazers Receive: C
Marc Gasol, SF/PF James Ennis
Firing head coach David Fizdale, getting slammed by injuries and losing 18 of the past 21 games has not changed the Memphis Grizzlies' party line: They're not prepared to sell off Mike Conley and Marc Gasol for tanking's sake.
"We think our window is still very much open with Mike and Marc," general manager Chris Wallace told ESPN.com's
Zach Lowe. "I think we'll be heard from the rest of this year, and in years to come."
That's all well and good. But franchise aims shift quickly amid downward spirals. The Grizzlies will
lose enough with Conley and Gasol to preserve their lottery odds. Keeping the former is the only play anyway. Conley has four years (including this one) and $126 million left on his deal. No team absorbs that, let alone surrenders value for it, when he's coping with Achilles issues.
Gasol is in slightly different territory. He has a player option for 2019-20, ahead of his age-35 season. His value only goes down from here. He's amenable to a trade, according to Lowe, and Memphis has to at least consider moving him when he'll be treated as an over-the-hill expiring contract in less than one year's time.
Extracting this combination of assets from the Portland Trail Blazers helps the Grizzlies straddle two windows. They won't be good enough to ruin this season's nosedive and are securing a pu-pu platter of assets that'll help them into 2018-19 and beyond.
Jusuf Nurkic is a legitimate successor to Gasol. He's inferior in nearly every area of the game but remains a serviceable passer, post scorer and dropback rim protector. He doesn't turn 24 until August and shouldn't come close to costing the $72.3 million Gasol is owed through 2019-20.
Maurice Harkless is a great hedge against Tyreke Evans' upcoming free agency. He cannot jumpstart pick-and-rolls in volume, and his shooting is shaky. But he has hit threes at or around the league average in the past and remains a defensive pest on the wings. The Grizzlies should have no trouble swallowing Meyers Leonard's contract if it means getting a first-rounder. He's shooting 53.8 percent from deep (7-of-13) in limited action, and they can try grooming him in the image of a souped-up Jarell Martin.
Portland shouldn't have to think long or hard about this deal. Shedding Leonard and avoiding Nurkic's next contract offsets what they'll pay Gasol, and he's an ideal big for head coach Terry Stotts' conservative defensive approach. He doesn't need to be especially mobile to protect the house while dropping back.
Committing around $90 million to Gasol,
Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and Evan Turner is no joke. But again: The Blazers are on the cusp of cannonballing into similar territory next season. They might as well pay Gasol what Nurkic and Leonard will combine to make through each of the next two years, then revisit their direction in 2020, when both Big Burrito and Turner are off the ledger.
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https://www.google.com/amp/s/articl...sf/2017/12/marc_gasol_trade_trail_blazers.amp
As the
Memphis Grizzlies ' free fall continues, many in the NBA community wonder if their championship window is beginning to close on star center
Marc Gasol . And if so, would the Grizzlies be willing to trade him?
Memphis General Manager Chris Wallace has flat out said they have no interest in moving Gasol. But after a summer of change and a considerable amount of money invested in Gasol and oft-injured guard Mike Conley, the question becomes whether or not that duo is still a foundation on which the Grizzlies can build a championship-caliber team. Gasol has been the heart of this team for a decade, but in a recent
interview with Zach Lowe of ESPN , the star center admitted he would be open to a move
If the team came to him with a trade, Gasol would accept it. "If they think it is best, I would do anything for this franchise," Gasol said.
Wallace and other higher-ups are adamant that is unlikely, even as the losses mount. That seems stubborn, and there is almost certainly a scenario -- perhaps Conley getting reinjured, or taking longer than expected to return -- where Memphis tests the market. But even in that doomsday sequence, the Grizzlies may even prefer to hold their stars out here and there in some selective tankery, nab a high draft pick, and reload for another run at 45-plus wins.
At 32, Gasol is at the top of his game with over two years left on his current deal. He's posting averages of 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists per contest through 27 games this season. With the struggles of
Jusuf Nurkic this season and
Zach Collins still in the early stages of his development, the
Portland Trail Blazers seem like a team who could greatly benefit from the presence of an All-Star center. A move like that could vault them into contention in the Western Conference and greatly improve their ability to vie for a NBA championship.
But what would the Blazers have to give up to pry Gasol away from Memphis? If it means trading CJ McCollum or Damian Lillard to make it happen, would you still make that trade?
You tell us: Is Marc Gasol the type of player the Trail Blazers need to with the NBA's elite teams, and should they go after him before the NBA trade deadline?
