NBA Trade Grades: Heat To Deal Mario Chalmers To Grizzlies

Brace yourselves, Miami Heat fans. After losing LeBron James a little over a year ago, yet another prominent era of South Beach basketball has come to an end: the Mario Chalmers era.

As first reported Tuesday morning by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Miami has agreed to send Chalmers and small forward James Ennis to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for backup point guard Beno Udrih, power forward Jarnell Stokes and a second round draft pick.

According to Woj, the teams have agreed to the deal and are lining up a trade call with the NBA office Tuesday. The swap will save the Heat about $8 million in luxury tax payments.

Assuming the deal goes through without any hiccups, what are we to make of the trade for both sides? In order to make some sense of Tuesday’s minor move, here’s a look at some NBA Trade Grades.

Memphis Grizzlies:

As we covered in today’s NBA Power Rankings, something is not right in Memphis right now. It’s not just the Grizzlies’ underwhelming 3-5 start, but it’s the manner in which those defeats have come. There was a 30-point blowout at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers, a 50-point rout at the hands of the Golden State Warriors and the team has now lost three straight.

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Memphis’ only three wins on the season came against an Indiana Pacers team that has vastly improved since moving Paul George back to his preferred position of small forward, the lowly Brooklyn Nets and the DeMarcus Cousins-less Sacramento Kings. For a Western contender starting to show major signs of regression, some sort of move needed to be made.

That being said, I’m not sure Mario Chalmers moves the needle much for this struggling team.

While Chalmers is a slight upgrade over backup point guard Beno Udrih, what the Grizzlies really need is someone to spread the floor. Despite being a career 36 percent shooter from downtown, Rio has only made one of his 11 long range attempts this year and is coming off a season in which he shot only 29.4 percent from deep.

To be fair, Chalmers’ numbers might have been better in Miami over the last season or so if not for the arrival of Goran Dragic, but with Mike Conley in Memphis, he’ll be stuck in a similar, lessened role. Maybe the Grizzlies will try playing him and Conley together in lineups to space the floor, but again, if anyone’s expecting two-time NBA champion Mario Chalmers to be this team’s saving grace, they’re likely to be disappointed.

Memphis didn’t give up too much in this deal, though I will say Stokes has some potential as a very, very, very poor man’s Zach Randolph. The door on that potential has officially been closed in Memphis, but he hadn’t cracked head coach Dave Joerger’s rotation anyway. James Ennis will likely ride the bench, so this lateral deal is really all about Rio.

Grade: C

Miami Heat:

Through six games with the Heat this year, Chalmers was averaging 5.5 points and 3.2 assists in 20.0 minutes per game on .313/.091/.923 shooting splits. So yeah, Miami isn’t really giving up anything here other than a player who endeared himself to a collection of the fan base because of his hustle, his never-back-down attitude and yes, all-too-confident plays that would get him yelled at by his teammates.

It’s possible that the solid play of Tyler Johnson, a second-year backup who has averaged 6.1 points per game on 40.4 percent three-point shooting in his time in a Heat jersey, helped make Chalmers a little more expendable.

But in any case, this deal is really just about cutting back on luxury tax payments for Miami:

The move doesn’t get Miami under the tax line, but according to Ethan J. Skolnick (now of the Miami Herald), the Heat could always save themselves even more money if they were to waive Udrih:

If they do cut Udrih and his $2.2 million salary, that’ll be even more savings for a team trying to cut back on luxury tax payments. If not, they’ll hang on to a handy backup who’s efficient in the midrange, someone who’s averaging 5.9 points and 3.3 assists in 15.0 minutes per game on .435/.364/1.000 shooting splits. Plus, with Goran Dragic, the Heat could have an all-Slovenian backcourt!

UPDATE:

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, the Heat tried to find a third team to take on Stokes and/or Udrih, but were unable to do so. The deal proceeded as planned. Heat team president Pat Riley talked about the new acquisitions as though they’d be staying in Miami:

As for Stokes, it’s unlikely that he’ll crack Miami’s rotation this year if he remains on the roster, but he’s only 21 years old and has potential as someone who will bang in the paint for loose boards and easy put-back points.

Stokes was unable to find his NBA niche in the crowded Memphis frontcourt, but perhaps head coach Erik Spoelstra will be able to turn him into a productive role player down the line.

Next: NBA Power Rankings: Week 3

Like the Grizzlies, this trade does little for the Heat right now, but most of Miami’s power forwards — Chris Bosh, Josh McRoberts and Udonis Haslem — are considerably older. Snagging a second round pick along with the younger Stokes is just an extra cherry on top.

Grade: B