The Memphis Grizzlies were having a good season, until their roster was hit hard by the injury bug. Without Mike Conley and Marc Gasol, the San Antonio Spurs essentially have a first-round bye playing against the Grizzlies. It’s sort of tough to predict the Grizzlies’ future: They’re a consistently good team every year, but aren’t title contenders. Therefore, they haven’t had any amazing draft picks. They have two solid pieces in Conley and Gasol, but other key team members are getting up there in age(Zach Randolph and Tony Allen are both 34 years old).
Gasol is under maximum contract with the Grizzlies until 2020, but Conley will be a free agent this summer, and is expected to leave Memphis, according to Ken Berger of CBS Sports:
Dave Joerger is in a tough spot in Memphis with an aging roster that broke down this season and is on its way to being further depleted with the expected free-agent departure of point guard Mike Conley. There’s the potential for a breakup there, sources say.
Grizzlies’ Vice President Ed Stefanski expressed confidence in February that Conley would re-up with the team. Conley is one of the better point guards in the league, and has been overrated for years now. Memphis would be ecstatic to keep him on the roster, but plenty of teams will be gunning for the talented 28-year-old point guard. Two teams that already have Conley on their radar are the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets.
