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Woj: Patrick Beverley Traded to T-Wolves; Grizzlies Get Jarrett Culver, More
August 17, 2021
Patrick Beverley was a Memphis Grizzly for less than 48 hours.
The Grizzlies agreed to trade Beverley to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Jarrett Culver and Juancho Hernangomez, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Memphis acquired Beverley from the Clippers on Sunday as part of a deal that sent Eric Bledsoe to Los Angeles. Bledsoe had been acquired in a trade this offseason along with Steven Adams and the No. 10 overall pick for Jonas Valanciunas and the No. 17 selection.
The Grizzlies are buying low on Culver, who has struggled since being taken with the sixth pick in the 2019 NBA draft. He averaged 5.3 points and 3.1 rebounds in 2020-21 while seeing his playing time slashed to 14.7 minutes per game. The Texas Tech product also missed 38 games due to injury.
Shooting woes have been Culver's biggest issue, as he's hit just 28.8 percent of his threes as a pro.
Hernangomez is a solid rotation big who can space the floor in limited minutes. He'll likely be on the floor in more offense-oriented lineups because Adams doesn't do much away from the basket. There's likely some level of hope he can develop into a Valanciunas-lite, and there's no harm if he struggles because his contract for 2022 is non-guaranteed.
The Wolves acquiring Beverley seems like a move designed to inject intensity into the team culture. It's unlikely Minnesota finds itself in playoff contention in a deep Western Conference, but Beverley's never-ending motor could be the type of jolt needed to shake up the locker room.
If the experiment fails, the Wolves can probably flip Beverley again around the trade deadline to a playoff team and net a couple of second-round picks or even a heavily protected first.