Changes were always likely for the Memphis Grizzlies after a season in which star point guard Ja Morant struggled in a new offensive system, head coach Taylor Jenkins was fired nine games before the playoffs and the team suffered an embarrassing first-round sweep at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
What those changes would look like, however, were a mystery until Sunday. And the first domino to fall is a stunning one, as the Grizzlies have agreed to trade Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic for an incredible haul of picks and players, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported.
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Let’s get into the details of the deal and grades.
Details of the Grizzlies and Magic deal
GRIZZLIES GET: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony, four 1st-round picks (2025, 2026, 2028, 2030) and 2029 first-round pick swap
MAGIC GET: Desmond Bane
Grizzlies grade:
Memphis just re-tooled for next season (or kickstarted a rebuild) and the team hasn’t even moved its two best players, with Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. still on the team. Before we even get to the draft picks, swapping Bane for Caldwell-Pope and Anthony gives the Grizzlies more depth on the wings without sacrificing much in the way of shooting (if Caldwell-Pope can bounce back from a down year). If the Grizzlies want, they could run it back next season with the team as currently constructed and match this year’s 48-win total — if not exceed it.
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But to be clear, grabbing four first-round picks and a pick swap in a deal for Bane is the big win here, even if Orlando’s likely status as a playoff contender in the foreseeable future keeps those picks out of the lottery. The 2025 pick gets Memphis back into this year’s first round, and the other picks give Memphis the flexibility to swing for a bigger star this summer if it so chooses — or continue a full blow up, with a nice treasure chest of picks to start anew.
GRADE: A+
Magic grade:
The logic for Orlando is easy to follow here. The actual deal is a hard one to swallow. Bane is the exact type of player the Magic needed in a lineup that was bereft of shooting, as he’s one of the best snipers in the NBA as a career 41 percent three-point shooter. With stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner in place, Orlando is ready to win now, and the Eastern Conference might be ripe for the taking with injuries (and costs) ravaging the Boston Celtics.
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Here’s the thing, though: the Magic just pushed their chips all in with this deal, and Bane isn’t exactly an all-in kind of player. Especially not for a team that had the league’s 27th-rated offense. He alone isn’t coming close to fixing that. They’ll desperately need some improvements from within for him to even have a marginal impact in how far they can go. I’ll cut the Magic some slack in the fact that the 27-year-old Bane is under contract through 2029, so he fits perfectly into their window of pushing for contention. I’m just not sure he expands the window much.
GRADE: D+
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Desmond Bane trade grades: Who won the stunning Grizzlies-Magic deal?