The Grizzlies will waive recent trade acquisition Jordan Hawkinsaccording to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), who refers to the move as a mutual decision to enable the former lottery pick to find a new team in free agency.
Assuming he clears waivers as expected, Memphis will be on the hook for Hawkins’ full $7,021,895 salary this season. The Grizzlies have plenty of cap flexibility to take on that dead money — they’ll still be $38.6MM below the luxury tax line even after accounting for Hawkins’ cap hit, per Yossi Gozlan of CapSheets.com.
Hawkins declared for the 2023 draft after a sophomore season with UConn in which he averaged 16.2 points and 3.8 rebounds while shooting 38.8% from three-point range on high volume. The 6’5″ shooting guard helped the Huskies win a national championship that spring and was selected 14th overall by the Pelicans a few months later.
While he was considered one of the better shooters in the 2023 class, Hawkins has yet to make a significant impact at the NBA level. The 24-year-old averaged 9.2 PPG and 2.5 RPG on .376/.348/.826 shooting in 123 regular season appearances over his first two seasons (20.2 MPG), then saw his playing time drop under a new front office regime in 2025/26, averaging 5.1 PPG and 1.7 RPG on .366/.348/.852 shooting in 51 games (13.6 MPG).
The Pelicans traded Hawkins and Micah Peavy to the Grizzlies last month in a cost-cutting move (New Orleans included a second-round pick and a second-round swap in the deal).
Memphis is one of several teams around the NBA facing a roster crunch this fall. Even after they officially waive Hawkins, the Grizzlies will still have 16 players on guaranteed standard contracts and Jaylen Wells — who likely isn’t going anywhere — on a partially guaranteed deal that becomes fully guaranteed if he makes the opening night roster.
More to come…