The Memphis Grizzlies are heading into an offseason defined by two big actions: navigating the NBA Draft with three current picks in the first 32 and attempting to trade Ja Morant, Chris Herrington wrote.
Herrington, who has covered the franchise since the franchise’s second season in Memphis, lays out the stakes plainly: the Grizzlies hold three selections inside the draft’s early window, they covet Cameron Boozer should the No. 3 pick fall their way in the 2026 NBA Draft, and the front office is actively pursuing a move involving Morant.
The raw numbers explain why this matters. Three current picks in the first 32 give Memphis both roster flexibility and trade currency that most teams don’t have in a single summer. The presence of a high lottery asset tied to the No. 3 pick — and interest in a prospect like Cameron Boozer — makes the draft one of the two likely franchise-defining business decisions the Grizzlies will make this summer.
Herrington summarized the situation this way: "Over the past couple of weeks in this space, I’ve explored the two most significant pieces of basketball business the Grizzlies are likely to conduct this offseason: Navigating the NBA Draft with three current picks in the first 32 and attempting to trade Ja Morant." That sentence frames both the opportunity in front of Memphis and the choice the front office must make about its cornerstone player.
Context matters here: the team’s draft assets are valuable on their own and because they could be paired with or used instead of a major roster shake-up. The Grizzlies’ interest in Cameron Boozer is linked specifically to the No. 3 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, which would be a clear signal that the club is willing to chase long-term size and upside rather than rebuild around the current core unchanged.
There is a sharp point of friction beneath those options. The Grizzlies believed a 2027 unprotected first-round pick from Utah was part of the compensation in the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade, a pick that could be used or flipped in a larger deal. But the NBA’s proposed lottery rules may change that pick’s value or its conveyance, injecting uncertainty into any trade calculus that counted on an unprotected 2027 selection.
That complication matters because it directly affects the second big action Herrington identifies: any plan to move Ja Morant. If Memphis intended to use the Utah pick as sweetener in a Morant deal, the proposed rule changes could force the front office to rework offers or to retain assets they assumed were movable. The possibility that the pick’s status will shift is the clearest, immediate risk to whichever path the Grizzlies choose.
The practical consequence is straightforward: Memphis has to balance drafting for immediate upgrades, packaging picks for established pieces, or pursuing a Morant trade without full certainty about what assets it will control. Those are not academic choices. Each route reshapes the roster and the timeline for competitiveness in different ways.
Herrington has been following this franchise for decades and warns of the scale of the decision ahead: "A franchise-altering decision could be on the horizon for the Memphis Grizzlies." That is the right way to read a summer that pairs unusually dense draft capital with a potential trade of the team’s most consequential player.
The next chapters to watch are clear: the NBA Draft, how the Grizzlies use three picks in the first 32, and whether Memphis completes a trade for Ja Morant — all while the league’s proposed lottery changes hang over the 2027 Utah pick. The single unresolved question that will determine whether this offseason is a reset or a retool is plain: will the front office move Morant now, or use those early picks to rebuild around a new core if the hoped-for Utah asset shifts under them?
