Like all teams, the Grizzlies have certainly had their free agency misses along the way, with one particular $94 million contract for a player who would ultimately play under 100 games for the franchise and average less than eight points standing out. But while Chandler Parsons' perennial injuries made him a notable miss, the Grizzlies have also enjoyed a number of good finds, with a defensive stalwart of the team and indeed the league moreover standing out above the rest. With that in mind, let's take a look at the best seven free agent signings in Grizzlies history.
7. Vince Carter (2014)
Vince Carter was very much in the twilight of his career when he signed with the Grizzlies in 2014, and he didn't give them nearly the production which he had throughout the course of his time in the NBA. In fact, after averaging double figure points in 18 consecutive seasons after his first year in the league, he dropped to just 5.8 per game in his first year with Memphis and maxed out at 8.0 ppg in his third and final season with the team. Despite that lack of productivity, however, the signing of such a high profile player, particularly one with the highlight capacity of Carter – albeit significantly reduced in his late 30s – was a nice addition for a small market team.
6. Dante Cunningham (2011)
Free agency doesn't always have to be about bringing in superstars – it rarely is – and more often than not it's simply about filling a need. That's exactly what the signing of Dante Cunningham in 2011 did. Injuries meant that the Grizzlies were seriously struggling for front court depth, and signing Cunningham helped to alleviate that stress. His numbers certainly don't jump off the page – he played just 64 games with the team and averaged 5.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in that time – but he did what the Grizzlies needed him to do, and without him they would have been reliant on players struggling to fit in at NBA level.
5. Jerryd Bayless (2012)
Jerryd Bayless signed with the Grizzlies in 2012 and didn't immediately make an impact, averaging just 5.1 points through his first 40 games. But as his new team made its charge towards the playoffs he picked things up, and upped that to over 12 ppg for the rest of the season. He helped lead the Grizzlies to the five-seed, from which they made their way to the franchise's only ever Western Conference Finals to date. Bayless had a number of solid games in that playoff run – he set the tone in their first game of the postseason with 18 points, while he helped close out that series with another 18 points in Game 6 and played a valuable role with, again, 18 points, in a tight Game 3 loss of the Western Conference Finals. He only played half a season more with the team, but his contribution to the most successful team in franchise history made him an important free agent signing.
4. Chucky Atkins (2006)
After playing 28 games in the first half of the 2005-06 season, the Wizards waived Chucky Atkins, and the Grizzlies pounced. They signed the diminutive guard on January 23 and he immediately moved into the starting lineup, playing 39 of his 43 games over the remainder of that year as a starter. He was much more productive for the Grizzlies than he had been in the earlier parts of the year for Washington, averaging 11.4 points and 3.0 assists and helping the team to a 49-win season and the fifth seed. The next year they failed to back that up and missed the playoffs, but Atkins' season was better than the previous one; though he came off the bench in the majority of his games, he averaged 13.2 points and 4.6 assists in around 27 minutes per game. That was all she wrote in Memphis for Atkins, but he played a valuable role for the team over the two seasons that he was with them.
3. James Posey (2003)
After eight seasons in the NBA the Grizzlies were still yet to play in the postseason, but that all changed after they signed James Posey in 2003. Of course, that wasn't exclusively a result of the signing – far from it – but in his first season with the team, the versatile forward certainly made a solid contribution. That season, he played all 82 games and was the team's second leading scorer behind Pau Gasol with 13.7 points while shooting 38.6% from three-point range, while he also averaged 4.9 points, 1.5 assists and 1.7 steals per game. Unfortunately, the team's first ever playoff run ended in just four games at the hands of the Spurs, but Posey had a couple of good games during that series, most notably a 20-point, 11-rebound effort in Game 4. He didn't back up his efforts from his first season in his second, shooting a woeful 35.7% from the field and averaging only 8.1 points, and he moved to Miami the next year. His first season, however, and the contribution he made to their inaugural playoff appearance, made him an important signing for the team.
2. Tyus Jones (2019)
Tyus Jones made a name for himself as a reliable back-up point guard over the first four seasons in his career in Minnesota, and he continued to develop that reputation after signing with the Grizzlies as a restricted free agent in 2019. For the following four seasons he was one of the better bench point guards in the league; nothing he does is particularly flashy, but he plays within his limits, shoots relatively well and most importantly, is perhaps the best guard in the league at taking care of the ball. He has many times led the league in assist to turnover ratio, a stat which is indicative of his high IQ as a player and ability to consistently make the right decisions. His four-year tenure with the team came to a conclusion in 2023, but he played a really important role on a young Grizzlies team as they attempted to develop into a legitimate contender.
1. Tony Allen (2010)
This was a pretty easy call to make. Tony Allen was signed for a three-year deal for a little over $9 million after spending six seasons on Boston's bench, and what incredible value that turned out to be. Allen, of course, helped to transform the Grizzlies into one of the most defensively tenacious teams in the league, establishing a culture which saw them make the playoffs in each of his first seven seasons with the team. Offensively Allen was limited, never averaging double figure points and never really shooting at a decent clip, but his intelligence could help to at least nullify his limitations at that end of the floor, and though floor-spacing was well and truly coming into vogue during his stint with the Grizzlies, an inability to shoot wasn't quite the death knell for a career that it is now. And what he lacked in offensive prowess, Allen made up for at the other end of the floor in spades. He was for a long time one of the absolute best defenders in the league, and in his seven seasons in Memphis he made the All-Defensive Team on six occasions – the only time he missed being the 2013-14 season when he played just 55 games. It's no accident that Allen's arrival marked the beginning of seven consecutive playoff runs, a run which ended a year before he left, with his contribution to defense on the court and culture off it helping to transform a franchise which had previously become very accustomed to mediocrity. It's testament to his mindset that he was able to become such an important player on a playoff team for so many years despite his limitations, and having been signed so cheaply after six years in the league, Tony Allen is comfortably the best free agent signing the Grizzlies have ever made.
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