NBA Trades: Instant takeaways from trade between Pelicans and Grizzlies
By Duncan Smith
The season for NBA trades officially began on Monday when the New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies made a pre-NBA draft deal, kicking off the transaction frenzy we’ve all been impatiently waiting for.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report the deal that sends Eric Bledsoe and Steven Adams to the Grizzlies in exchange for Jonas Valanciunas, with a number of draft picks changing hands in the process.
The New Orleans Pelicans open the offseason by making a pre-NBA draft trade with the Memphis Grizzlies. Here’s how we see it in the immediate aftermath.
The trade looks like this:
According to Woj, that 2022 Lakers pick that heads to Memphis will be top-10 protected, and that pick is part of the haul that the Pelicans received in exchange for Anthony Davis.
The Grizzlies have been a feisty, overachieving team the last couple of seasons with rising young star Ja Morant, making each of the past two play-in tournaments. The Pelicans have been a talented team with the highest of hopes thanks to Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram.
How did these teams fare in the first transaction since the NBA playoffs came to an end? Note: The OKC Thunder and Boston Celtics made a trade during the second round of the playoffs. Did one of them come out of this deal in better shape than the other? Let’s take a look at what changes for both teams, starting with the Memphis Grizzlies.