Woj: Grizzlies listening to offers for Marc Gasol and Mike Conley

Here’s the report from Woj:

For the first time, the Memphis Grizzlies will begin listening to trade offers for their franchise stars, center Marc Gasol and guard Mike Conley, league sources tell ESPN.

Memphis ownership and management have decided that they’ve reached an organizational crossroads and are preparing to weigh deal scenarios on one or both of their cornerstone veterans between now and the Feb. 7 trade deadline -- and perhaps into the offseason, league sources said.

Outside of the Celtics dealing for either player (unlikely) or an Eastern Conference contender trading for the Grit N’ Grind cornerstones, any direct effect the potential movement of Gasol and/or Conley will be the outstanding draft pick Memphis still owes Boston. Three years ago, Danny Ainge moved Jeff Green for Tayshaun Prince, Austin Rivers, and a future first. That pick is protected 1-8 this season, 1-6 next, and unprotected in 2021.

Memphis’ intention is to jump start their rebuild around Jaren Jackson Jr., a similar position Danny Ainge found himself in in the summer of 2013. They’ll look to deal Gasol and Conley for promising young players, draft picks, and short term contracts. That could mean bottoming out over the next two seasons and that draft pick not conveying for another two years.

For the Celtics, that could work in their favor. With their roster already loaded with youth and several rookie contracts soon to expire, draft picks tomorrow are worth more than they are today. As Sam Sheehan illustrates here, as much as four first round picks in this upcoming draft sounds appealing, rolling them back could serve as better fortune for the franchise:

For whatever reason teams seem to not value picks in the distant future highly, probably because there is no way of knowing what that pick will look like. That said, it’s also created a sort of a market inefficiency, where trying to get distant future picks is probably your best bet for yielding a big return. The Celtics know this first hand, as the Jeff Green to Memphis deal was made at a time when the Grizzlies probably believed they were parting with a low-to-mid 20’s pick.

Celtics fans had #NetsPick to root for, currently have #KingsPick in their pocket, and now might have #GrizzliesPick to look forward to, too.