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He won’t have any trouble committing to defense and doing whatever he needs to fit in. Prince is a real chemistry guy who made his name in this league winning championships as the fifth man of a starting lineup consisting of four other All-Stars. Bringing in Prince to replace Gay in the starting lineup and big depth with Davis and Daye will help ease the transition too. The Grizzlies made their decision now and will move forward with one of the most lethal big man duos in the legal as the focal point of their team. It was still unknown whether the Grizzlies were really better with Gay in the lineup or if they’d be better off with Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol as the clear one-two punch. They have proven in the past that they can still be an elite team without him and maybe even a better one. That has to be a big reason why Memphis was okay with shipping Gay out. That playoff run was without Gay by the way. Two years ago the Grizzlies knocked off the one-seeded San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs then nearly got past the Thunder, taking them to seven games in the next round. They’re a great defensive team that forces a lot of turnovers and they don’t turn the ball over themselves. They have something that very few teams can handle with their big frontline. Many people even thought this might be the year the Grizzlies could make a run to the NBA Finals. Memphis got off to a great start this season and currently is 29-15, fourth in the Western Conference.
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The immediate thought when you hear the Grizzlies are trading a former All-Star in Gay away is that the team will take a step back. He was averaging 9.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in 24.2 minutes per game with the Raptors this season. He’s just 23 years old still in his third year in the NBA and has a fantastic PER of 18.1 this season. Daye is a promising young big man who is in the last year of his rookie contract.ĭavis is maybe the biggest haul for Memphis in this deal. The Grizzlies will save money acquiring Prince who will take Gay’s starting spot and make only $7 million on average the next three seasons. It was a similar situation that the Oklahoma City Thunder were in before the start of the season with James Harden. Gay has around $53 million left on his three-year contract including this season and Memphis would have likely had to deal with harsh luxury tax penalties if they tried to keep him. We knew that the Grizzlies were entertaining the idea of trading Gay.