Memphis Grizzlies: 4 takeaways from the 2019 NBA Trade Deadline

3. The luxury tax was scary

The Marc Gasol trade did more than just bring in three new players, it pushed the Grizzlies over the dreaded luxury tax line. They walked into the trade deadline about as close as one can be to the line without actually crossing it, being just $400,000 away.

With shipping Gasol out, the three incoming salaries of Valanciunas, Miles and Wright pushed the Grizzlies right over it. If the team were fighting for the playoffs, owner Robert Pera might shrug and be fine with paying a little bit extra. This team wasn’t sniffing the playoffs, so there was no reason to pony up the extra cash.

The trades with the Los Angeles Clippers and the Atlanta Hawks brought them right back under that precious line:

Garrett Temple started for the Grizzlies ever since arriving in Memphis. JaMychal Green was one of the first men off the bench, often played in crunch time and was Jaren Jackson Jr. insurance for whenever he got into foul trouble, which was almost every night.

Coming into the deadline, it seemed likelier that these two would get moved over anyone else. The move for Avery Bradley was … surprising. Bradley is another one of those players that doesn’t seem to move the Grizzlies up or down, but more laterally.

Once again though, this was a money-cutting move. The combined salaries of Temple and Green were about $15.8 million, while Bradley is just a $12 million hit on the books.

The Grizzlies were also able to shave a bit of salary and bring in a young player with their trade with the Hawks:

Tyler Dorsey has played sparingly this season with the Hawks, appearing in just 27 games and averaging nine minutes per game. He’s a terrible shooter from all parts of the floor and doesn’t offer a lot. He’s one of Dillon Brooks‘ former college teammates and a young player though, so why not take a flier on him?

Mack’s season became more and more disastrous as the year rolled along, shooting worse and worse and even getting yanked from the rotation for a few games. He wasn’t valuable to the team going forward, so flipping him for something was worth it. Additionally, it saves the Grizzlies about $200,000 this year and helped keep them far enough away from the luxury tax line.