Grizzlies waive Ivan Rabb, Miles Plumlee
Dillon Brooks now stands alone as the longest-tenured member of the Memphis Grizzlies.
The franchise waived third-year forward Ivan Rabb and recently acquired center Miles Plumlee on Saturday, leaving Brooks as the only player on the team who participated in a game for the team in the 2017-18 season.
Rabb appeared in 85 games during two seasons with the Grizzlies, averaging 5.7 points and 4.3 re- bounds in 14.6 minutes per game.
The Grizzlies selected Rabb 35th in the 2017 draft. His partially guaranteed contract was set to become fully guaranteed Saturday.
NBA teams must reduce their rosters to 15 (not including two-way players) by Monday, and Rabb and Plumlee became causalities of a Grizzlies roster crunch as the franchise enters a new era with a new
coach, revamped front office and several new players.
Though Rabb possesses a smooth offensive game in the post and is a quality rebounder, he never found a positional home with the Grizzlies.
At just 220 pounds, he is lean for a center and did not demonstrate the defensive versatility and 3-point shooting often required of modern NBA power forwards.
Plumlee came to the Grizzlies in the summer trade with Atlanta that sent Chandler Parsons to the Hawks.
The 6-foot-11 former Duke center played sparingly in the team's preseason games.
He is owed $12.4 million this season in the final year of his contract.
Waiving Rabb and Plumlee leaves the Grizzlies with a slim selection of frontcourt players ahead of Wednesday's season opener at Miami.
Jonas Valanciunas, who sat out the preseason with a sore foot, is expected to be the team's starting center while Jaren Jackson Jr. is expecting to start at power forward and log minutes at center.
Rookie forward Brandon Clarke is expected to play a key role off the bench. Stretch forwards Kyle Anderson, Bruno Caboclo and Solomon Hill will be relied upon to help the Grizzlies rebound.
Reach Grizzlies beat writer David Cobb at david.cobb@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @Davidwcobb.