Grizz trade Davis, McLemore to Kings, get Garrett Temple back

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Fresh off last night’s Summer League Semifinal loss to the Portland Trailblazers, the Grizzlies did some addition by subtraction . . . and addition. From Grizz PR:

Memphis, Tenn. – The Memphis Grizzlies completed a trade with the Sacramento Kings in which they acquired guard Garrett Temple, Grizzlies General Manager Chris Wallace announced today. In exchange, Memphis traded guard Ben McLemore, center Deyonta Davis, a future second round pick and cash considerations to Sacramento.

In 65 games (35 starts) with Sacramento during the 2017-18 season, Temple (6-6, 195) averaged a career-high 8.4 points to go with 2.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 24.8 minutes per game while shooting .418 from the field, a career-best .392 from three-point range and .769 from the free throw line. Temple netted a career-high 34 points on January 23 at Orlando.

Undrafted in the 2009 NBA Draft, Temple joins Memphis with career averages of 5.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 19.1 minutes over 439 games (157 starts) with Houston, Sacramento, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Charlotte and Washington. The nine-year veteran has career shooting percentages of .405 from the field, .357 from three-point range and .725 from the free throw line.

If there’s one thing Grizzlies fans hate more than a guy who doesn’t play up to his potential is a guy who doesn’t seem to even TRY to play up to his potential. Consider McLemore the former and Davis the latter. McLemore didn’t get many minutes last season in Memphis until the tank kicked in, and barely registered a blip.

Meanwhile, you’d think that a guy with two years of NBA experience: 1. Would not be expected to play in Summer League and 2. Would dominate Summer League, based on that experience alone and the fact that you’re up against guys who’ll be lucky to play for the Guangdong Sharks. Alas, there were far too many times that Davis was near invisible out there this summer.

So the fact that you thin out the roster some with this trade helps. And though I honestly have never really heard of Garrett Temple before this trade — sorry, other than when Z-Bo came to town, I wasn’t checking for Sacramento — from what I hear, he’s going to be the next James Ennis/James Johnson type guy. That is, a solid role player, plays respectable defense and can knock down a jumper. The fact that he’s carved out a nine-year career doing those things means he will also bring valuable veteran experience in teaching young players how to be professionals and stay in the league.

The Grizzlies haven’t had the splashiest of offseasons, but quietly they’ve reloaded pretty nicely. The only remaining questions are health — Mike Conley and Chandler Parsons among them. I can’t lock them for a playoff spot yet . . . West is just TOO crazy. But they should be in the mix for a playoff seed and that classic role of “scrappy underdog” that this team and town loves so much.