Memphis Grizzlies GM reveals the early NBA plan for South Carolina’s GG Jackson

Memphis Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman knows that GG Jackson, his team’s second-round NBA Draft pick, is an “incredibly skilled player.”

But Kleiman also reiterated what Jackson himself has readily acknowledged: raw talent aside, the former five-star recruit and South Carolina basketball forward has plenty of room to grow as a player — and as a person.

“GG’s gonna have to put in the work to really achieve his potential, and we’re going to give him the structure to do that,” Kleiman said late Thursday after Memphis picked Jackson at No. 45 overall in the 2023 NBA Draft. “He’s a very positive, very hardworking kid who has an opportunity to be a very impactful player at the NBA level, but he’s got a lot of work ahead of him.”

Kleiman added that he expects Jackson, 18, to sign with the Grizzlies on a two-way contract as opposed to a regular contract and spend significant time with the Memphis Hustle, the franchise’s NBA G League affiliate that plays in nearby Southaven, Mississippi.

NBA teams are afforded a pair of two-way roster spots on top of their regular 15-man rosters and primarily use those to develop young players. Two-way players are “protected,” meaning they can’t be signed by other franchises, and can be active for up to 50 of their team’s 82 regular-season games, according to HoopsRumors.com.

Kleiman said that plan would be an ideal setup for Jackson, who made the SEC All-Freshman Team in his lone season at USC but also weathered stretches of immaturity and poor body language, which led to a mid-season benching from coach Lamont Paris.

“I don’t think he’s happy with how he handled this past year, and I think he’s looking forward to trying to prove to everyone what he’s capable of developing into as a basketball player,” Kleiman said. “I would expect that he’s going to be a two-way (and) would expect that he’s going to spend a lot of time in Southaven.”

Jackson, listed at 6-foot-8 and 214 pounds, was fifth among all freshmen nationally and ninth in the SEC with 15.9 points per game. He also averaged 5.9 rebounds per game and had 11 games of 20-plus points, the most by a USC freshman since the program joined the SEC.

Jackson, though, struggled with defensive intensity and decision-making at times during a productive season while falling short of the admittedly sky-high expectations that followed him to USC from Columbia’s Ridge View High School.

He was the consensus No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2023 and initially committed to UNC, a blue blood fresh off a Final Four run, last April before flipping his commitment to South Carolina and reclassifying into the Class of 2022 last summer to play for Paris as a hometown hero of sorts.

Jackson, at the time of his signing, was the highest ranked incoming freshman in program history and one of only two five-star signees in Gamecocks history (PJ Dozier in 2015).

A shaky pre-draft process, which 247Sports reported “didn’t do anything to reassure NBA decision-makers” on questions regarding Jackson’s efficiency and maturity, also hurt his draft stock.

Jackson, once projected as a surefire lottery pick, had to wait about four hours from the start of Thursday’s NBA Draft to hear his name called midway through the second round of the 60-pick draft. He hosted a draft party with dozens of friends and family in one of the club spaces at Williams-Brice Stadium on USC’s campus.

“I think there’s things in how he handled his approach to the game that he would very much take back as well,” Kleiman said. “But we see someone who, for his size, is incredibly skilled. We see someone who’s a hard worker and who’s committed to doing the hard work.”

Jackson joins a Grizzlies team that has won 50-plus games each of the past two seasons and earned the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed in consecutive NBA Playoffs but faces questions surrounding star point guard Ja Morant, its franchise player.

The NBA earlier this month suspended Morant 25 games for “conduct detrimental to the league,” most notably two separate instances when the two-time All-Star was seen holding up a handgun in social media videos.

Other top players on the Grizzlies, who’ve made three straight playoff appearances overall, include guard Desmond Bane, forward Jaren Jackson Jr. and center Steven Adams. Memphis also traded for former Celtics guard Marcus Smart last night, per ESPN.

Jackson took his draft slide in stride, branding it as a chip on his shoulder, and said he was excited to play alongside Morant, a fellow South Carolina native who played at Crestwood High School in Sumter before becoming an All-American at Murray State and getting picked No. 2 overall in 2019.

“I never had a thought about playing with Ja Morant but it’s gonna get crazy,” Jackson said. “Definitely gonna be a lot of highlight reel plays. But I’m really gonna lock in like I’ve never locked in before in basketball.

“You know, I’m a kid at heart: smiling, giddy and all that. But it’s time to get down to business. Tonight definitely motivated me a lot, so it’s definitely gonna be a few changes to not only my game but mentally as well.”