Report: Magic trade Luke Ridnour to Grizzlies for draft rights to Janis Timma
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Roughly 32 hours out from the 2015 NBA Draft, the chaos has already begun.
While this trade doesn't move the needle a great deal, teams have started tinkering at the fringes, with the Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies making a minor deal Thursday. The Magic will send veteran guard Luke Ridnour to the Grizzlies in exchange for the draft rights to Janis Timma, according to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
In Ridnour, the Grizzlies land a steady hand for depth behind Mike Conley and insurance against the departure of restricted free agent Nick Calathes. They can now move forward with Ridnour, Beno Udrih, both, or neither, depending on what demands free agency makes of their salary-cap flexibility; Ridnour's $2.75-million salary for next season is non-guaranteed, and Udrih's $2.17-million salary is only guaranteed for $923,000.
Hanging onto Ridnour isn't the worst call, even if he may be slightly overpaid for the upcoming season. The 34-year-old has averaged 9.3 points and 4.5 assists over 830 career games and remained moderately effective as a veteran leader for Orlando in 2014-15, averaging four points and two assists in 47 games off the bench.
He also gives Memphis an additional non-guaranteed deal ahead of the draft and the opening of free agency, a valuable chip for salary-matching purposes in any subsequent trades.
Ridnour obviously didn't figure into the Magic's plans, and they do him a small favor here by dealing him to a team who may use him rather than waiving him outright.
Timma is thrown in as consideration because something has to go back in every trade. The No. 60 pick in the 2013 draft, the 22-year-old Latvian wing is probably still some time away from coming stateside, if he's ever able. He averaged 12.6 points, five rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.4 steals for VEF Riga of the Latvian league this season, knocking down 34.7 percent of his threes.