The Grizzlies move for Marcus a smart step towards contention

When Kevin Durant left the Warriors, they found a way to acquire D’Angelo Russell in a sign-and-trade to make sure that they didn’t lose him for nothing. While at the time the move seemed baffling in many aspects, Golden State knew what they were doing. Russell displayed his immense scoring talents, raising his trade value, resulting in him being traded for Andrew Wiggins, a player that fit the Warriors needs. Wiggins’ strong play in the postseason helped the Warriors capture their fourth title in an eight year span and Golden State’s first since Durant left. 

While the Memphis Grizzlies are nowhere near even sniffing the success that the Warriors have had over the past decade, their decision to trade for Marcus Smart in many ways mirrors Golden State’s decision from four years ago, and is a product of the same premise: championship teams don’t make the market, they make the best of it. 

With it being perpetually reported from various outlets that forwards OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges would require massive hauls to lure away from their current teams, the Memphis Grizzlies had to make a decision. If they traded for either of them, they would have sufficiently addressed their need for more consistent wing scoring and size on the perimeter, especially with Dillon Brooks not returning to the team. However, by acquiring either of them, Memphis would have had to part with many assets that would have given them an incredibly finite resource collection to use in future trades to improve the roster. 

Instead of attempting to participate in mind games with Masai Ujiri and Sean Marks, two of the NBA’s smartest general managers, the Grizzlies opted to take advantage of a broken trade and replace the Clippers as the third team in the Celtics and Wizards trade, which fetched them Marcus Smart. 

While the Grizzlies did have to part with multiple assets, including Ja Morant’s trusted backup Tyus Jones and multiple first round picks, they did the smart thing and accepted that the best way to improve their roster was to pivot from their initial plan of acquiring a lengthy wing. While giving up two first round picks in any trade is substantial, getting a player who can replace Dillon Brooks’ minutes is more important than drafting a player at pick 25 in this year’s draft or drafting a player with the Golden State first-rounder that Memphis got in 2019 that is likely to be significantly closer to pick 30 than pick one. 

While Smart does not have the frame or height that Anunoby and Bridges do, he does have a defensive player of the year trophy, which speaks for itself. Paired up with Jaren Jackson, the Grizzlies have one of the best perimeter and interior defender duos in recent NBA history. Also, Smart brings a veteran presence that Memphis desperately needs. Smart is a proven winner. He was a main cog of a finals team just a year ago, and while he has never been a part of a championship team, the Celtics have been to the second most Conference Finals since he was drafted.

Smart also is an available player, since the 2018-2019 season, Smart has played in 320 of the Celtics 390 regular season games, 82 percent. With a team like the Grizzlies that has in recent years had bad injury luck, the Oklahoma State product projects to bring stability to the team on a nightly basis on both ends of the floor. 

It’s debatable whether Marcus Smart is better than either Mikal Bridges or OG Anunoby, but what’s not debatable is that what it would require to get either of the young forwards would force Memphis to give up more than was required to get Smart. While he won’t fix all the Grizzlies problems, and there will be times playing him with Ja Morant and Desmond Bane will make the team very small, the trade is the type that franchises that are serious about winning make.