Memphis Grizzlies 2026-27 roster deep dive: A Franchise Restart

What the 2025-2026 statistics show

Several players on the roster have 2025-2026 NBA statistics on record. Jaylen Wells played 76 games last season, averaging 11.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists. Jerami Grant averaged 13.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists across a season in which his total games played, listed at 84, exceeds the standard 82-game slate — a figure to treat with some caution, though his per-game averages remain informative. GG Jackson II appeared in 74 games, averaging 9.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists, while Zach Edey, limited to 13 games, still posted 11.5 points and 9.6 rebounds per contest. Ty Jerome, in 25 games, averaged 11.8 points, 1.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists.

The two newest additions also bring established production. Isaiah Stewart, across 79 games with Detroit before his trade to Memphis, averaged 8.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.9 assists. D’Angelo Russell, combining all teams he played for during the 2025-2026 season before joining the Grizzlies, averaged 6.3 points, 1.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists across 42 games.

These figures offer a snapshot of what each player brought to their previous situations rather than any projection for how they will perform in Memphis’s new system — a distinction that matters given how much of the roster is entirely new to one another heading into training camp.

Jaren Jackson Jr. traded to Utah in an eight-player deal

The Memphis Grizzlies’ teardown began in February 2026, when the front office sent Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz as part of an eight-player trade. ESPN reported on February 3, 2026, that Memphis included John Konchar, Jock Landale and Vince Williams Jr. in the package. The Athletic, in a report dated February 4, 2026, detailed the return headed to Memphis: Walter Clayton Jr., Taylor Hendricks, Kyle Anderson, Georges Niang and three future first-round picks. The two reports are complementary rather than overlapping confirmations of the same list: ESPN’s account covers the players Memphis sent out, while The Athletic’s account covers the return the Grizzlies received, together forming the two sides of the same deal.

Two of the players acquired in that trade did not last long in Memphis. According to ESPN’s official Grizzlies transactions page, the team waived Georges Niang on February 5, 2026, two days after ESPN reported the trade, and waived Kyle Anderson on February 27, 2026 — a date Wikipedia’s Kyle Anderson entry places one day earlier, on February 26. Neither appears on Memphis’s active roster for 2026-2027 in the BeBasket database, while Walter Clayton Jr. and Taylor Hendricks remain part of the current group.

In exchange for Jaren Jackson Jr., the Grizzlies prioritized draft capital, banking three future first-round picks that gave the front office room to maneuver heading into the 2026 offseason — the same offseason that would ultimately send Morant out of Memphis as well.

Ja Morant traded to Portland after seven seasons in Memphis

The bigger shock came that summer. Yahoo Sports, citing ESPN’s Shams Charania, reported that the Grizzlies traded Ja Morant to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray. The move was announced around June 27-29, 2026, closing the book on Morant’s entire NBA origin story with Memphis — seven seasons that began and ended with the franchise before this trade, according to a Google News summary of the deal.

Both players acquired for Morant now populate Memphis’s 2026-2027 roster. Jerami Grant, listed as a forward, and Kris Murray, listed as a small forward, both appear in the BeBasket database’s active roster for the team, while Morant is absent from it.

Together, the Jackson and Morant trades stripped away the two most recognizable faces of the previous Grizzlies core within the span of about five months. What replaced them was less a single blockbuster return and more a collection of draft picks, veteran role players and one marquee lottery selection — pieces that, as detailed below, now make up an almost entirely reshuffled group heading into the new season.

Cameron Boozer arrives with the No. 3 pick

The clearest building block of the new era came through the draft rather than a trade. ESPN’s offseason recap, published August 14, 2026, states that Memphis held the No. 3 pick in the 2026 draft and used it on Cameron Boozer, calling him a prospect the franchise hopes will be “franchise-changing.” NBA.com’s official 2026 draft team profile for the Grizzlies likewise lists Boozer among the club’s selections.

Boozer, a 2.06m forward out of the United States born on July 18, 2007, arrived through the draft rather than a trade. He appears on the BeBasket database’s active 2026-2027 roster for the Grizzlies, positioned as the long-term cornerstone the front office is betting on after moving out both Jackson and Morant within the same calendar year.

His arrival gives Memphis a rare asset in this rebuild: a top-three pick. Where the Jackson and Morant deals were about subtraction and asset return, the Boozer selection represents the addition side of the ledger — a young, high-ceiling piece to build the next iteration of the roster around.

Additional trades reshape the frontcourt and backcourt

Beyond the two headline departures, Memphis reworked its supporting cast through several additional transactions. The Commercial Appeal reported on July 1, 2026, that the Grizzlies traded Santi Aldama to the Dallas Mavericks for A.J. Johnson and a first-round pick. A follow-up Substack report published July 2, 2026, specified the return more precisely as A.J. Johnson, a protected 2030 Warriors first-round pick and two additional future picks.

Memphis also added size through a draft-day trade in June. NBA.com’s official Isaiah Stewart player page states that the Detroit Pistons traded Stewart to the Grizzlies in exchange for three second-round picks, a move Andscape confirmed took place during the second round of the June 2026 draft. Andscape, in a report dated August 7, 2026, describes Stewart as a “veteran big man.”

Memphis also brought D’Angelo Russell to the roster. Yahoo Sports reported that Russell arrived via a six-team trade involving Washington, one that was tied to the same series of transactions that delivered Isaiah Stewart to the Grizzlies. Both A.J. Johnson and D’Angelo Russell appear on Memphis’s active 2026-2027 roster, while Santi Aldama does not — consistent with his departure to Dallas.

Two competing projections for Memphis’s starting five

With the regular season still ahead, two outside projections sketch different pictures of how Iisalo could open his lineup card, though neither reflects a starting five confirmed by the club itself.

ESPN’s depth chart for Memphis projects Scotty Pippen Jr. as the starting point guard, alongside Cedric Coward at shooting guard, Jerami Grant at small forward, Cameron Boozer at power forward and Zach Edey at center. SI.com’s Ryan Kaminski, in an August 25, 2026 article titled “Projected Grizzlies Starting Lineup, Rotation, and Closing Lineup for 2026-27,” instead projects Ty Jerome as the starting point guard, with Jaylen Wells at shooting guard, Cedric Coward at small forward, Cameron Boozer at power forward and Zach Edey at center. The two projections disagree at point guard and on whether Wells or Grant starts on the wing, while agreeing that Coward, Boozer and Edey fill three of the five spots.

Kaminski’s piece positions Grant as a bench or alternative option rather than a starter in that scenario, writing that “while Jerami Grant has a case to start in the frontcourt, the true answer may reveal itself based on matchups and availability.” The same article nonetheless projects Grant into Memphis’s closing lineup — swapped in for Wells alongside Jerome, Coward, Boozer and Edey — adding that “whether he starts or plays a sixth man forward/big role, Grant will likely eat up a good share of the minutes in the frontcourt this year.”

Beyond the starting group, both sources point to a deep rotation. ESPN’s depth chart lists Ty Jerome, Cam Spencer, Javon Small and Walter Clayton Jr. behind Pippen at point guard, Isaiah Stewart, Quinten Post, Taylor Hendricks and Olivier-Maxence Prosper behind Edey at center, and Taylor Hendricks, Isaiah Stewart, GG Jackson II and Grant behind Boozer at power forward.

Kaminski’s SI.com piece adds further detail on the perimeter bench mix, singling out Scotty Pippen Jr. and Cam Spencer as “the two best bets for minutes on the perimeter” among reserves. Isaiah Stewart, “recently acquired from Detroit,” is described as adding “another fringe 4/5 big man” off the bench, while Quinten Post is called “a sneaky good pickup for Memphis, a shot-blocking 3pt shooter.” Kaminski also lists Taj Gibson as an emergency option at center, noting Memphis “can also break the glass for Taj Gibson in case of emergency, who is as reliable as fill-in NBA centers come.”

The Memphis Grizzlies’ 2026-2027 roster at a glance

Tuomas Iisalo enters year two facing a retooled roster

Overseeing this reconstruction is Tuomas Iisalo, who enters his second full season as Memphis’s head coach. Yahoo Sports, in a report dated August 18, 2026, notes that Iisalo faces “questions surrounding his long-term job security” as he takes charge of a roster that looks almost nothing like the one he inherited. Wikipedia’s entry on Iisalo similarly identifies him as the Grizzlies’ current head coach in the NBA.

Iisalo’s tenure in Memphis began in unusual circumstances. According to an official grizzlies.com release dated May 2, 2025, he was named head coach that month after having already served in an interim capacity since March 2025. That path — interim coach turned full-time hire — now puts him in charge of a franchise that has traded away both Jaren Jackson Jr. and Ja Morant within his first two years on the job, while adding a No. 3 draft pick and multiple veteran trade acquisitions in their place.