The Sacramento Kings finalized a trade sending Garrett Temple to the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday. In return, the Kings received Ben McLemore, Deyonta Davis, a 2021 second round pick, and cash considerations. Now that we’ve have a few hours to digest the trade, there are a few possible reasons Sacramento made this deal. The trade sheds about $1 million from Sacramento’s cap sheet. This could be positioning for accepting large contracts in another trade, or it could be positioning the Kings to make a large offer to a restricted free agent such as Clint Capela. McLemore and Davis are redundant pieces on the roster but James Ham says he’d be surprised if either player actually suits up for the Kings. As for the pick, that could eventually be a nice asset. 2021 could be the first year high school players return to the NBA draft, which would boost the depth of the class and increase the value of a second round pick. Based on the ages of Marc Gasol and Mike Conley, it’s also possible the Grizzlies may be rebuilding in 2021 and the pick could be a high second round pick. Of course, the pick could turn out to be a mid-to-late second rounder, and the Kings may not be able to pull off any notable moves with their cap space. It’s tough to evaluate a trade based on what it might lead to. With all of that being said, how would you grade the trade?<doc-sep>The Grizzlies and Kings cut a deal on Tuesday that sent veteran forward Garrett Temple to Memphis in exchange for former Kings draft pick Ben McLemore (No. 7 in 2013), plus third-year big Deyonta Davis, cash and a 2021 second-round pick. At this stage of the summer, there’s no trade too small to ignore. Let’s grade the move. Rocky Widner/Getty Images This was a shrewd deal by Grizzlies brass, accomplishing a few tasks in one quick swing. Temple is a reliable, well-regarded veteran who offers some shooting and defensive versatility to a team hoping to make the postseason. The 32-year-old averaged 8.4 points on 25 minutes per game last season, and joins new addition Kyle Anderson in a much-improved Memphis wing rotation. Temple is on an expiring $8 million deal and comes at little cost other than the second-rounder the Grizzlies offered up. He’ll help stabilize the rotation at a reasonable price. 2018 NBA Summer League: Winners and Losers Moving off of McLemore and Davis as part of the transaction should be viewed a bonus at this point, with the Grizzlies aiming for a playoff return and neither player part of that plan. McLemore, 25, signed a two-year deal worth nearly $11 million with the Grizzlies last summer after leaving the Kings, but has shown little improvement in five seasons and offers little beyond inconsistent scoring and shooting. Davis is still only 21, but his overall lack of intensity and improvement as a finisher were apparent at Las Vegas Summer League, and the presence of newly-drafted Jaren Jackson Jr. limited his relevance in-house. Memphis: A- As continues to be the trend with the Kings, this doesn’t make a great amount of sense. We’ll have to see what they do next to better evaluate it, but in a vacuum, they moved a useful short-term guy for two players who aren’t particularly useful in any way right now. There was no explicit need for their roster to get even younger, and neither McLemore nor Davis slots neatly into their rotation. Most notably, this deal opens up another $1 million in cap space for Sacramento, which would suggest another move or two is on the way (they’ll be sitting on about $20 million after the deal goes through). Thinking speculatively, notable restricted free agents Clint Capela and Marcus Smart remain unsigned, though neither is a clean fit other than providing a talent upgrade and making a splash. It would be amusing if they ended up giving an offer sheet to say, Rodney Hood. There’s some dark humor in McLemore returning to the Kings after starting his career in underwhelming fashion there. If Sacramento keeps him, he will end up playing behind Buddy Hield and Iman Shumpert this time around, with his deal expiring after this season. If the Kings also roster Davis, he’ll find himself similarly stuck behind a noted glut of young bigs that includes rookie Marvin Bagley III, Willie Cauley-Stein, Harry Giles and Skal Labissiere. Consider both players immediately expendable. We’ll have to see what the Kings do with their cap space, but there’s no move left on the board that’s an obvious home run for them. So it goes. If the glass is half full, at least the Kings are picking up a second-rounder for an expiring contract in a deal that doesn’t assume any long-term risk. Kings: C<doc-sep>The Associated Press Memphis, Tenn. — The Memphis Grizzlies have acquired guard Garrett Temple from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for guard Ben McLemore, center Deyonta Davis, a future second-round pick and cash considerations. Temple, 32, scored a career-high 8.4 points per game and shot 39.2 percent from 3-point range this past season. The 6-foot-6 guard also averaged 2.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 24.8 minutes. Temple previously has played with Houston, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Charlotte and Washington. He has career averages of 5.5 points, two rebounds and 1.7 assists. The trade returns McLemore to Sacramento, which selected the former Kansas star with the seventh overall pick in the 2013 draft. McLemore, 25, spent his first four NBA seasons with the Kings before coming to Memphis last year. The 6-5 guard averaged 7.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 19.5 minutes with the Grizzlies in 2017-18. McLemore has career averages of 9.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists. Davis, 21, averaged 5.8 points, four rebounds and 15.2 minutes for Memphis this past season. The former Muskegon star played one season at Michigan State in 2015-16, where he averaged 7.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots in 35 games, including 16 starts.<doc-sep>
Peter Edmiston The Commercial Appeal MEMPHIS - The Memphis Grizzlies didn't take long to move on from disappointments in the past two summers. The Grizzlies will send center Deyonta Davis and guard Ben McLemore to the Sacramento Kings for veteran wing Garrett Temple, a league source confirmed to the Commercial Appeal. The Grizzlies will also send a 2021 second-round pick along with cash considerations to Sacramento to complete the deal. McLemore was signed to a two-year, $10.7 million contract last summer but disappointed greatly in his initial season with the Grizzlies. He struggled on both ends of the floor and found himself on the outside of the Grizzlies rotation looking in. Davis, meanwhile, was picked with the 31st pick in the 2016 NBA draft. The team was initially enamored with his potential to block shots, dive to the basket and finish, and be an athletic modern center. That potential never became performance, and an indifferent 2018 Summer League campaign sealed his fate with the organization. Temple was considered a leader and a stabilizing force in a chaotic Kings setup. He held the young players there accountable publicly and privately, and his leadership extends to the Players' Association as well, where he's in year two of a term as a vice president. The Grizzlies want quality veterans around their young players, and Temple joins Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, and others in what appears to be a solid Grizzlies locker room. On the court, Temple is a 39 percent outside shooter and a high IQ player who can help improve ball and player movement. The Grizzlies absorb a little more salary in the deal but are still around a million dollars under the $123.7 million luxury tax level. They also bring their roster down to 15 players, the NBA limit for a team's roster size in the regular season.