Grizzlies trade Steven Adams to Rockets for Victor Oladipo, picks

Grizzlies trade Steven Adams to Rockets for Victor Oladipo, picks

The Memphis Grizzlies are trading center Steven Adams to the Houston Rockets for guard Victor Oladipo and three second-round picks, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski first reported Thursday. The pick compensation will be two 2024 second-rounders and one 2025 second-rounder, per Wojnarowski.

Adams is expected to miss the entire season after undergoing knee surgery before the season. The Grizzlies were granted a $6.3 million disabled player exception–half of Adams’ $12.6 million 2023-24 cap figure–in lieu of his injury, but can no longer use it due to this trade.

The Grizzlies, however, were granted an additional $12.4 million disabled player exception last week due to Ja Morant‘s injury, which it can use to acquire Oladipo, who’s on the books for $9.5 million this season (per Spotrac). Any team with a DPE can use it to trade for a player on the final year of his contract–but it can’t use it for any other player, unlike standard trade, midlevel or biannual exceptions, which can be used for multiple players.

Adams, 30, played 42 games with the Grizzlies last season. He averaged 8.6 points, 11.5 rebounds–5.1 offensive rebounds–and 2.3 assists in 27.0 minutes per game. He should provide a stabilizing force behind Alperen Sengun next season when he returns to the court.

Oladipo hasn’t played this season either after tearing his patellar tendon in the first round of the 2022-23 NBA Playoffs with the Miami Heat. It was his third major knee injury in four seasons. Miami traded him to Oklahoma City in the offseason, where he was soon rerouted to Houston. As of this publishing, it is unknown if he will play this season.

The best-case scenario for Oladipo and Memphis is that he provides a spark plug behind Ja Morant and Desmond Bane (when everyone’s healthy), but it’s going to be hard to rely on him with his recent injury history.

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This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.

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