It looks like the Mario Chalmers rumors will finally be coming to an end now after an entire offseason of him being on the trading block as the Miami Heat have reportedly agreed to send him to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of a four player trade, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
The deal is reportedly agreed upon and now the teams are just lining it up to pass it through the NBA league office. The Heat will reportedly be sending Chalmers and James Ennis to the Grizzlies and will be getting Beno Udrih and Jarnell Stokes in return. As a result of this trade the Heat will be saving close to $6 million against the luxury tax, according to former GM Bobby Marks, which was their main objective in trying to trade Chalmers.
For the Grizzlies they were looking to add some athleticism and perimeter shooting to their team which Chalmers should be able to provide although he has not done so yet this season. Chalmers is shooting just 31 percent from the field and nine percent from three so far this season but his career three point percentage is 36 so it is safe to assume he will eventually snap out of it.
As for the other players in this trade, Ennis is a 25 year old forward who has a ton of athleticism but he has been buried on the depth chart this season and therefore has only played seven minutes in three games.
For the Heat they will be getting a solid backup point guard in Udrih who has been playing much better than Chalmers so far this season. Udrih is shooting 36 percent from beyond the arc this season and should bring a steady presence behind Goran Dragic as the backup point guard if the Heat decide to keep him around. It is possible that the Heat could decide to waive Udrih to save even more money, according to Ethan J. Skolnick of the Miami Herald, which would leave Tyler Johnson as the backup.
Stokes may be the player in this deal with the highest ceiling but he too was buried on the depth chart as he has only appeared in two games for a total of four minutes. He likely won't have a role with the Heat this season but Stokes is a good long-term prospect as he is a very good rebounder.
The Grizzlies needed a shakeup after getting off to a rough start that reportedly has their coach on the hot seat and the Heat are trying to not become the first team to ever have to pay the repeater tax so while this move isn't anything major, it served a purpose for both sides and both teams also got a young player that may end up being something in the future.
