Miami Heat point guard Mario Chalmers (#15) takes a shot against Cleveland Cavaliers' Anderson Varejao. (Photo : Getty Images)
The Miami Heat and Memphis Grizzlies are currently negotiating for a deal that would bring point guard Mario Chalmers to the Southwest as the Grizz experienced heavy losses in two of their first four games of the season.
ESPN's Marc Stein confirmed the rumor as the Grizzlies are said to be looking to add depth behind their starting point guard, Mike Conley Jr., after the 30-point and 50-point losses they recently suffered against NBA finalists Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors respectively.
Miami is acknowledged to have been dangling the 29-year-old, seven-year pro since the offseason began in an effort to unload his $4.3 million salary off the team's cap for tax reasons.
Also, last season's signing of Goran Dragic via trade from the Phoenix Suns, the acquisition of Josh Richardson thru this year's draft, and the emergence of undrafted sophomore Tyler Johnson made Chalmers indispensable in the current Heat lineup.
Sports World Report noted that the Grizzlies' veteran Slovenian point guard Beno Udrih, which is a lot more affordable with his expiring $2.2 million contract, could be included in the deal to acquire Chalmers, who is also in the final year of his two-year contract.
Chalmers had admitted that the offseason trade rumors had "stressed" him a lot, but that he also knew that his fate with the team is "out of his control."
"It's definitely been tough, but I'm built like that ... for tough moments, to deal with things," said Chalmers. "Especially with the way things have been going, I've got to prove every day why I'm here, why I've got two championship rings, why I was a starting point guard on two championship teams."
The former Kansas Jayhawks standout averaged 10.2 points, his career-high, 2.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists with the Heat last season, starting 37 out of 80 games. He was also an integral part of Miami's 2012 and 2013 championship teams playing alongside the Big Three of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh as the team's starting floor general.
