NEW YORK – With the ninth pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, the Memphis Grizzlies select …
It’s literally anyone’s guess at this point.
Entering Wednesday’s first round of the NBA Draft, the Grizzlies’ options still appear as wide open as the field of lottery prospects that may be available by the time commissioner Adam Silver takes the podium to announce Memphis’ selection with the No. 9 pick.
Although questions and criticism abound regarding the elite quality and depth of this year’s class, some answers will emerge as the first round of the two-day NBA Draft unfolds Wednesday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Grizzlies president of basketball operations Zach Kleiman has been adamant for months that one of the team’s top priorities is to bolster frontcourt depth by adding an impactful center. The path Memphis takes to address that need should come clearer into focus this week.
Then again, indications are the Grizzlies seem as likely to trade the No. 9 pick and add help through looming free-agency or a robust trade market as they are to draft a center Wednesday.
Two big men generating the most buzz entering the draft are 7-foot-1 France native Alexandre Sarr from the Australian pro league and 7-foot-2 UCONN center Donovan Clingan.
Sarr was pegged for Atlanta when the Hawks surprisingly won the draft lottery last month and emerged with the No. 1 pick. But recent reports have indicated Sarr has been reluctant to work out for the Hawks and that Atlanta could shift focus to trading the pick to instead target Clingan.
Consider it part of the pre-draft drama as prospects and teams avoid tipping their hands.
“I’m a competitor, so I want to be first in everything that I do,” Sarr said of his desire to go first overall in the draft. “I don’t know if it’s that important because I really can’t control it. But it does mean something. I would say I’m the best player in the draft.”
Clingan has watched his name shoot up and down mock draft boards in recent weeks, a range that has seen him rise as high as a top-3 pick. But according to ESPN Front Office insider Bobby Marks and NBA Draft Analyst Jeremy Woo, both Sarr and Clingan are expected to be long off the board by the time the Grizzlies are slotted to pick ninth.
“I try not to look at mock drafts and try not to listen to too much,” Clingan said. “At the end of the day, June 26 is the day that the real mock draft happens. I’m just trying to put all the work in I can, put myself in the best position, end up with the right organization and be the highest pick possible. But I also want to go to a place where I can fit in and have an impact.”
The next tier of center prospects in the draft – Duke’s Kyle Filipowski, Purdue’s Zach Edey and Indiana’s Kel’el Ware – have been routinely slated to go well beyond the draft’s top 10.
During ESPN’s pre-draft media call Monday, Marks suggested the Grizzlies and Thunder face similar situations with this draft. OKC owns the No. 12 pick, with both teams considering trading up or down for a center to play alongside Jaren Jackson Jr. and Chet Holmgren, respectively.
“Certainly, where both teams are – Memphis at nine and OKC at 12 – it’s going to cost you to move up to get (Clingan),” Marks assured. “Memphis has all its (future) draft picks to move up, if they want to do that. We know OKC has been sitting on all these picks also, moving up, moving back. (Both) have equity if they want to get into the top three, top four – if he’s still there.”
Meanwhile, multiple prospects in this draft dispute the notion among some critics that this year’s class is one of the weaker talent crops to enter the league in recent years.
Former G League Ignite forward Ron Holland admits his draft classmates may lack the type of generational phenom the Spurs snagged with last year’s top pick in 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama. But Holland, a 6-foot-8 projected lottery pick, vows that stars will soon emerge.
“It definitely bothers me, for sure,” Holland said of the draft’s skeptics. “You can put us against any other draft class – we just don’t have a standout unicorn or anybody like that. We all could be very good role players. Some (will) be All-Stars. When I hear we’re a pretty bad draft class . . . it burns my blood, and I’m sure it’s not only me. But it pushes me to prove everybody wrong.”
Depending on how the initial picks shake out on the draft board, the Grizzlies may find the most value in selecting the best prospect available regardless of position in order to maximize their asset. Unlike most teams in the lottery, Memphis already boasts a playoff-tested core in All-Stars Jackson and Ja Morant along with emerging prolific swingman Desmond Bane.
Ideally, this year’s lottery pick – or asset – could help the Grizzlies rebound from a historically injury-riddled 27-55 season that left them out of the postseason for the first time in five years.
“We’re going to be open-minded with what we can do with that pick,” Kleiman insisted earlier this offseason. “We know what we want to address. It’s no stone unturned. Every opportunity we can look at to build around our core group and put them in the best position to be successful, we’re going to look at. There’s one (need) that stands out, really, and we’re not trying to hide the ball on that.”
Instead, the Grizzlies intend to shore up some shortcomings that surfaced last season, particularly in the front court. The void at center came after the team first dealt injured veteran Steven Adams to Houston, then backup Xavier Tillman to Boston at the February trade deadline.
Amid injuries and holes up front, Memphis went from one of the NBA’s most productive teams in the paint in recent years to falling near the bottom of the league in rebounding last season.
During the playoffs, Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins watched conference rivals Minnesota, Dallas and Denver boost their frontcourts and ride their size and depth deep into the postseason.
“We’ve got to continue to respond to how good the league is, especially in the West,” Jenkins said as the Grizzlies exited the season. “But we know what we’re capable of doing. We just have to have that humility and understand that this was a difficult situation. It’s not good enough, and it’s not going to be our new norm. We know we have to get better.”
If recent draft week history is any indication, don’t expect the Grizzlies to sit idly by when the action gets started. In each of the five years he’s served as the franchise’s top basketball executive, Kleiman has executed multiple trades the week of the draft or during draft night.
That trend started in 2019, when the Grizzlies dealt the No. 23 pick and two second-round selections to Oklahoma City to move up two spots to land power forward Brandon Clarke.
And that penchant to remain open for business continued last year, when the Grizzlies sent two first-round picks and guard Tyus Jones out the week of the draft. As part of that three-team trade with Washington and Boston, the Grizzlies acquired veteran guard Marcus Smart.
What happens in this draft is essentially anyone’s, er, everyone’s guess.
Of the 10 most highly-regarded mock drafts tracked by NBA.com over the past month, seven of them feature the Grizzlies selecting a different player with the No. 9 pick. In other words, the only consensus entering this draft is that there isn’t one.
So, whether it’s before the draft or right in the midst of it, brace for the Grizzlies to keep their options – and phone lines – wide open.