Memphis Cannot Keep Failing Its Own Rebuild at the Guard Position

There is a version of this offseason where the Grizzlies look like a franchise that absorbed a brutal 25-58 season, made hard decisions, and built something coherent around Jaren Jackson Jr. That version does not include waiving a veteran point guard two months after acquiring him, replacing him with an undrafted rookie, and heading into training camp with the backcourt still unsettled. That version is not the one Memphis is living.

The D'Angelo Russell waiver on September 25 is not an isolated personnel decision. It is the third act of the same miscalculation, repeated across a single offseason. Act one: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope exercises his $21.6 million player option in June, signaling veteran stability at guard. Six weeks later he is in Philadelphia. Act two: Memphis acquires Russell from Washington, presumably to fill exactly the veteran floor-general role the Caldwell-Pope departure exposed. Act three: Russell is gone before training camp ends, replaced by Brendan Hausen, an undrafted guard who has played zero NBA minutes. This is not roster turnover. This is a franchise repeatedly misreading its own guard room and paying the price in wasted time and depleted credibility.

History is instructive here, and not kindly so. Rebuilding teams that cycle through veteran guards without landing one tend to share a common fate: their young wings and forwards stagnate because no one is organizing the offense around them consistently. Think of the Sacramento Kings across their lost decade, or the Orlando Magic in the years between their franchise cornerstones — talented forwards and bigs surrounded by a revolving door at the point, never quite able to establish an identity. Memphis risks exactly that dynamic. Jackson Jr. put up 19.1 points per game across 47 games last season as the only durable scoring anchor on the roster. He is the foundation. But foundations need structure built around them, and right now the Grizzlies are pouring concrete in the guard room and then tearing it up before it sets.

The Jordan Hawkins acquisition from New Orleans earlier this month at least adds a legitimate young piece to the backcourt conversation. Cam Spencer, who averaged 5.4 assists per game last season while shooting 47 percent from the floor, gives Memphis a functional playmaker. My read is that Spencer may end up being more important to this team's opening-night identity than anyone the front office tried to sign or trade for over the summer — which is either a testament to his value or an indictment of the process, depending on how charitable you feel. Probably both.

The declaration I will stand on is this: Memphis will not take a meaningful step forward in 2026-27 unless it stabilizes the guard position before the regular season tips off. Not "improves" — stabilizes. The Grizzlies went 5-25 over the final 30 games of last season and were outscored by more than 20 points per game in their final 10. That collapse was partly about talent, partly about health, but mostly about a roster that never cohered. The backcourt instability this offseason is the same problem wearing a different jersey. Jackson Jr. deserves better than another season spent carrying an incoherent supporting cast. The window to fix this before October is narrow, and Memphis just spent two months of it on a guard it didn't keep.