Trade Grades: Griz get Barnes, Hornets land Lamb
— -- Editor's note: This file was updated to include new details of the trade, including Memphis' participation.
The Deal
Grizzlies get: Forward Matt Barnes (from Hornets)
Hornets get: Guard Jeremy Lamb (from Thunder)
T hunder get: Guard Luke Ridnour (from Grizzlies), conditional 2016 second-round pick (from Hornets)
Memphis: A
It didn't take long for the Grizzlies to turn Ridnour's nonguaranteed contract, acquired Wednesday in an obvious precursor to another trade, into Barnes. As I explained in the Orlando-Memphis trade grades, salary-matching rules allowed Memphis to take on more salary in exchange for him than they could for the trade exception used to acquire him, and Barnes' salary ($3.5 million) fits neatly into the area that covered.
For that money, Barnes is a bargain. In particular, ESPN's real plus-minus thinks highly of his two-way performance as a 3-and-D specialist, rating him 3.2 points per 100 possessions better than an average player last season. That probably overstates things a little, and at age 35, Barnes figures to regress somewhat, but he should still be a starting-caliber small forward paid like an eighth man.
The trick for the Grizzlies is how they manage the rest of their wing rotation, which was already flush with shooting guards Tony Allen, Vince Carter and Courtney Lee, and small forward Jeff Green. Lee is the only player in the group who is better than Barnes at both ends of the court, so there's a role for Barnes, but that's a crowd. The best play for Memphis might be moving Green, who picked up his 2015-16 player option after a disappointing post-trade stint with the Grizzlies. Barnes is arguably better -- RPM would certainly say so -- and inarguably cheaper, though he's not a long-term solution at the position.
So Memphis may not be done yet, but turning the rights to 2013 draft pick Janis Timma into Barnes is a excellent start to the offseason.
Charlotte: B-plus
Whether this trade officially gets completed as two separate deals or one three-teamer, the Hornets used the nonguaranteed contract of Barnes -- acquired earlier this month as part of the Lance Stephenson trade -- to kick the tires on Lamb, entering the final season of his rookie contract. Before the trade deadline, I identified Lamb as a good "second draft" candidate who might perform better with a change of scenery. Oklahoma City held on to Lamb then, but with a luxury-tax bill looming for 2015-16 and roster spots at a premium, the Thunder finally moved on from him.
Lamb is a talented scorer who has yet to find a way to score efficiently in the NBA. In particular, he probably has to become a better 3-point shooter. In 2013-14, per SportVU tracking on NBA.com/Stats, he made 38.5 percent of his "open" 3s (with no defender closer than 4 feet). Last season, that dropped to a dismal 31.4 percent. Lamb will probably play with the ball in his hands more in Charlotte, because he no longer has Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook as teammates, but he'll still have to make open shots to help the league's worst 3-point shooting team.
It's strange the Hornets apparently never considered keeping Barnes for themselves, given their apparent desire to win now. But assuming the choice was between simply waiving Barnes and paying the $1 million guaranteed portion of his contract and taking a flier on Lamb, this was a positive move with little downside.
Oklahoma City: B
I'm sure the Thunder hoped they could get more for Lamb. His market value may have dried up as he sat on the bench last season, playing just 123 minutes after New Year's Day, so all Oklahoma City gets from an asset perspective is a conditional 2016 second-round pick. Moving his salary is still important for the Thunder, who are likely to be far over the luxury-tax line.
Depending how much the Thunder spend to re-sign restricted free agents Enes Kanter and Kyle Singler, they were looking at paying 3.25 times Lamb's $3 million salary in taxes, so moving his contract for Ridnour's nonguaranteed one enables them to save almost $13 million by waiving Ridnour. Given how unlikely Lamb was to contribute, that savings was a no-brainer.
