Re-signing Mike Conley isn’t enough for the Memphis Grizzlies. They apparently want to steal Chandler Parsons away from the Dallas Mavericks, too.
Per ESPN.com’s Marc Stein:
Free Agent Rumble: Memphis not only believes it'll keep Mike Conley but might try to sign Chandler Parsons away from the Conley-chasing Mavs
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) June 30, 2016
In this new, wild and wacky salary-cap climate, Parsons will command max money. His knee problems could drive his value down a bit, but he should at least be able to grab a three-year max deal if he signs outside Dallas, and a four- or five-year max if he sticks around.
The Grizzlies can carve out max room even while keeping Conley. His cap hold is reasonable until he puts pen to paper on a new deal, and they just need to renounce the rights to most of their other free agents. They have already taken the first step in that direction by declining the team option on Lance Stephenson.
Parsons, meanwhile, would be a good fit for a Grizzlies team that needs shooters. His best position is power forward, but he can survive at small forward. And there should be plenty of minutes available at the 4 anyway—unless Grizzlies coach David Fizdale plans on playing Zach Randolph 30-plus minutes per game.
It’s unclear at the moment if Parsons is a true flight risk. The Mavericks haven’t given any indication they wouldn’t want him back, and he could be key in recruiting other big names to Dallas, as we saw last summer when he played a key role in almost bringing DeAndre Jordan to town.
But the Mavericks already have a max(ish)-level deal invested in Wesley Matthews, who just isn’t the same after suffering an Achilles injury at the end of the 2014-15 season. They may not want another injury risk on their hands. That, at the very least, means Parsons is in play for other teams—including the Grizzlies, who may be willing to shell out money and years other teams aren’t to try preserving the fast-closing window on their current core.
