As is customary the day before the start of the regular season, several franchises have had to make last-minute decisions on their rosters. After trying out many players over the summer months, the time has come to release those who did not make the cut and trim the roster to 15 players, something the Grizzlies, who had 17, have had to do twice over. And, in the case of one of them, in quite a surprising way.
According to Shams Charania of ESPN, Memphis has waived Walter Clayton Jr., who finds himself without a team just over a year after being selected in the first round of the Draft. The former pick 18 in 2025 was, together with Micah Peavy, the big casualty of the day in Tennessee, and he will have to try to find a place elsewhere if he does not want his career in the league to end much sooner than expected.
The Memphis Grizzlies are waiving 2025 No. 18 pick Walter Clayton Jr. and Micah Peavy, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/Pm2xstDy2f
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 19, 2026
Clayton was selected by the Utah Jazz, but he headed to the Grizzlies after just 45 games as part of the trade that sent Jaren Jackson to Salt Lake City. In Memphis, where he played the last 24 games of the season, he managed to take on a bit more prominence and even put up a solid 9.7 points and 5.7 assists that seemed to promise him a certain role in the team. However, forced to make a decision, the front office preferred to keep other profiles, letting him go after this brief spell.
Peavy is leaving alongside him, and in his case he never even played an official game for the franchise, as he arrived in September as part of the trade in which Memphis also acquired Jordan Hawkins, who was also cut shortly afterwards. Last year, as a member of the Pelicans, he averaged 4.3 points and 1.9 rebounds, but since arriving in Tennessee he always seemed destined to leave.