Kelly Olynyk - MEM

[George Gervin]

Kelly has decided to sign with Monty Williams Grizzlies for a two year deal. He will be their first big off the bench in a three man rotation with AD and Rudy Gobert, as well as an emergency starter in the event of an injury. While Kelly had competing offers from other playoff teams, such as the Rockets, Lakers, and Nets, none were for the kind of money being offered here and Memphis has been in the prime spot wire-to-wire record wise for a title push. 

Terms are below for the deal. Ian Noble, this uses Memphis MLE (which has been unused to date) to sign this, and it keeps them under the hard cap line.

Year 1: $6,075,987
Year 2: $6,075,987

[Monty Williams]

Very glad to welcome Kelly to the roster, who’s quietly having a pretty good season.

[Tom Izzo]

Why would Kelly not take a 1 year deal and then hit free agency where those teams you just listed would have full MLEs available and he could secure a $35-40M+ bag instead of be on a team with AD, Gobert as starters with Keldon Johnson, Jae Crowder, Royce O'Neal, and Herb Jones? Thinking about that depth, the guy is barely going to play and then hit the free agency market, severely dropping his value.

I'm not saying he should have signed a vet min if a competitor is offering $6M, but that second year seems really really bad

[George Gervin]

Apr 2, 2023 9:10:05 GMT Tom Izzo said:

Why would Kelly not take a 1 year deal and then hit free agency where those teams you just listed would have full MLEs available and he could secure a $35-40M+ bag instead of be on a team with AD, Gobert as starters with Keldon Johnson, Jae Crowder, Royce O'Neal, and Herb Jones? Thinking about that depth, the guy is barely going to play and then hit the free agency market, severely dropping his value.

I'm not saying he should have signed a vet min if a competitor is offering $6M, but that second year seems really really bad

I don’t really find the argument that in FA he may have $35-40 MM waiting to be a convincing one. Kelly as a high 70s player over 30 is in the classic D5 FA bucket of “sign at the end of FA for one year ‘prove it’ deal for little to no money cause folks view 75-78 rated dudes as very replaceable”. The idea he should sacrifice millions to take your vet min offer — or the other two that were on table — isn’t something as the PA that I felt trumped the financial security Kelly has.

With respect to the depth MEM has, sure it is a lot of names, but when we look at this group, it isn’t some crazy bunch. AD is chronically hurt, Gobert is declining, Herb has been hurt a lot, Crowder quit on his own team until he got dealt, KJ has been hurt and is in a tanking “random days off” situation, and O’Neale isn’t a guy competing with Kelly for mins due to his position. The idea Kelly will ‘barely play’ feels like a stretch. Furthermore, all those guys listed save for Herb, KJ, and AD, have zero assurances they’re even on this MEM side after the offseason with their cap situation.

Ultimately, Kelly isn’t a mid 30s vet who will just take whatever offered and forgo salary — he’s making more in the last 30 games with MEM than his other three offers combined. 

[Ian Noble]

Processed Monty Williams