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It's been a wild NBA offseason so far.
For the Memphis Grizzlies, after trading away both Ja Morant and Santi Aldama in the last several days, the era of #GrzNxtGen has officially ended.
A new day is dawning for NBA hoops in the 901.
The question is, what in the world will it look like? We start to get that answer this weekend as NBA Summer League begins.
No, not Las Vegas - that comes next week.
Memphis participates in the Salt Lake City Summer League, a few games in Utah before the league-wide Vegas extravaganza, where they will then will play four times in Sin City Do the math.
Seven games over roughly two weeks.
Plenty of chances to try to make some educated guesses as to the direction of the new-look Memphis Grizzlies.
Who, or what, should be watched for starting this Saturday (yes, the 4th of July - great scheduling) against the summer Oklahoma City Thunder? The Point Guard "Position" Ty Jerome and Scotty Pippen Jr.
figure to be the two main candidates to start at the spot that Ja Morant inhabited off and on the last seven seasons (assuming they're on the roster come opening night).
Neither of them will play Summer League.
But players fighting for the Grizzlies lives likely will, at least some.
And they will be very important to watch.
Walter Clayton Jr.
struggled in the wake of his trade to Memphis as part of the Jaren Jackson Jr.
deal with the Utah Jazz.
He looked pretty uncomfortable most nights - understandable, considering he plays a significant position and had a pretty adversity-filled rookie campaign.
The main problem for Clayton Jr., however, is that Javon Small did not struggle too often.
In fact, he had the look of the next good Grizzlies rotation player find off of a two-way contract that he outgrew.
Clayton Jr.
had a heck of a college career, and certainly has that "dawg" in him that appears to be a priority on this next iteration of Grizzlies basketball.
But Small has been in the system and also is a competitor.
Their "competition" as the roster must be consolidated in the weeks and months to comes will be one to watch.
Special shoutout to Cedric Coward here as well, who of course is not a point guard.
But Memphis in the past has used Summer League to try to develop on-ball skills for wings (see Bane, Desmond and Wells, Jaylen).
There's no denying this was a weakness in an otherwise sterling rookie season for Coward.
Assuming Coward doesn't play too much (because, well, he's too good for Summer League) the limited minutes he does get will be good to keep an eye on in terms of how the Grizzlies coaches use him.
Of course, the new "big" men on campus Memphis had two first round picks in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Cameron Boozer (#3 overall) and Karim Lopez (#21 overall) comes to the Grizzlies not just as replacements for Jaren Jackson Jr.
and Santi Aldama positionally, but as the personification of what Memphis' front office is pivoting to identity-wise.
Jackson Jr.
and Aldama are both very skilled basketball players.
They both are also not the most physically imposing on the court.
When you watch the tape of Boozer and Lopez, the difference in style is notable.
Boozer in particular does not shy away from contact, embracing it, while Lopez's offensive strength this past season was his downhill ability physically.
Boozer will be asked to be a lot for these Grizzlies...maybe not in Summer League (again, hopefully he proves to be too good for Summer League quickly) but overall.
As an offensive hub, he will need to generate offense for himself as well as others, all while maintaining his elite rebounding skill at this next level.
Can he balance that responsibility with the greater need for physical play from the team? Lopez is much more of an open-ended question for Memphis at this point.
How his game translates bears watching, not just because dominating Summer League matters (spoiler alert - it does not).
It will carry with it weight of answering roster questions.
If Lopez appears more ready to contribute than initially thought, who gets trades/waived next for the Grizzlies could shift and make the roster more malleable more quickly than originally thought.
Shoutout to 2nd round pick Richie Saunders, recovering from a knee injury so he will not be playing in Summer League.
We will see what he has for the NBA down the line.
The next two weeks belong to his draft classmates - in more ways than one.
Joe Mullinax has been covering the Memphis Grizzlies as a blogger and podcaster since 2013.
His byline has been featured on SB Nation, FanSided, The Lead, and across multiple local sources including the Memphis Flyer and Bluff City Media.
He currently is Co-Host of the Locked on Grizzlies Podcast on the Locked on Podcast Network.
Mullinax resides in the Richmond, Virginia area with his wife and three children.
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