Justise Winslow readily admits that he was a bit more motivated than usual heading into Wednesday night’s game versus the Grizzlies in Memphis.
See, the 6-6 forward in his seventh season out of Duke, who the Trail Blazers acquired last week along with Eric Bledsoe and Keon Johnson from the Clippers in exchange for Norman Powell and Robert Covington, had played for the Grizzlies during the 2020-21 season and appeared in 26 games for the Memphis outfit. But when faced with the choice of either picking up Winslow’s team option for the 2021-22 season or letting him walk as an unrestricted free agent, the Grizzlies opted for the latter.