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They started making noise early, and now the other shoe has dropped for the Memphis Grizzlies. After trading for Luke Ridnour from the Orlando Magic yesterday, many suspected that the Grizzlies were not done dealing.
They proved to be correct. Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that the Grizzlies have flipped Ridnour's contract to the Charlotte Bobcats for forward Matt Barnes.
Memphis has agreed to trade Luke Ridnour to Charlotte for Matt Barnes, league sources tell Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) June 25, 2015
Charlotte can waive Ridnour's non-guaranteed deal, but Grizzlies plan to keep Barnes in final year of his deal.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) June 25, 2015
Barnes, as most Grizzlies fans know, is a hard-nosed wing player with some ability to hit the outside shot. He's most known for his run on the Clippers teams the Grizzlies faced in the playoffs. That run will no doubt cause some enmity among Grizzlies fans, whose attentions often focused on Barnes in the midst of one fracas or another in those Clippers playoff series. Barnes was acquired by Charlotte recently in the trade that sent Lance Stephenson to the Clippers.
Our own Kevin Yeung has twice proposed acquiring Barnes, in a piece on Ridnour and in his "if I were GM" piece. So needless to say, many in Grizz Nation think this is a piece that will help this Memphis team. Certainly gaining a solid wing player while giving up only Janis Timma's draft rights in return seems like a win for the Grizzlies' front office.