REPORT: Former Spartan Big Man's Future Unknown With Major Contract Questions

Former Michigan State star and current Memphis Grizzlies power forward Jaren Jackson Jr. has some question marks surrounding his NBA future -- where he may end up, and the price tag that accompanies him. A recent article explained his summer and the uncertain future that follows.

CBS Sports' Sam Quinn identified a few notable NBA stars with significant financial situations entering the 2025 offseason. He has Jackson at the top of the list, saying that he must prepare for a complicated few months, drawing attention to a missed supermax deal opportunity.

Jackson signed a rookie extension in 2021, keeping him with the Grizzlies through the 2025-26 season. He is currently making much less than he should be for the accolades he has gained and the production he has given the Grizzlies on an annual basis. The rookie extension has hurt his money.

"The rookie extension he signed in 2021 not only started below the max, but actually reduced his salary each year," Quinn wrote.

"Next year, he is set to make only around $23.4 million. That means a 40% raise wouldn't even take him to $33 million in the first year of his new deal, and as that starting point determines the size of a player's annual raises, the total value of a new contract for him on this basis would be well below market for an All-Star and former Defensive Player of the Year."

Quinn is advocating that Jackson should have received a supermax deal from Memphis to avoid this slippage of annual pay. As the Grizzlies fell out of the top of the Western Conference and were swept in the first round of the playoffs after being a play-in team, things changed drastically for him.

"The supermax would have solved this problem immediately. If a player is eligible, all other extension rules go out the window," Quinn wrote. "Jackson was considered nearly a lock midway through the season, but as the Grizzlies faded down the stretch, he ultimately wound up getting left off of the final team."

Jackson just completed his seventh season in the NBA, all with the Grizzlies. He earned a All-Defensive Second Team honor, the third All-Defensive award of his career. He averaged his second-highest point total at 22.2 points with 5.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 74 games played.

Memphis has considered the fact that Jackson may be looking for other suitors in the future if it does not pony up and pay him the supermax money. It has, in fact, shored up some cap space to be able to pay Jackson by using their 2025 first-round pick to dump veteran guard Marcus Smart.

Jackson will be with the Grizzlies for one more season, and then things will get extremely interesting if he still has not received an extension. If Jackson had been an All-NBA player this season, Quinn says the criteria would have been met for the supermax deal. We will now wait and see.

"It's a risk-reward calculus for him at that point, but it's one the Grizzlies would be weighing as well," Quinn wrote. "Say Jackson elected to play out the 2025-26 season without extending. Would the Grizzlies just decide to trade him to avoid gambling on free agency? It's entirely possible. An All-NBA selection could have solved all of this. Instead, Jackson becomes one of the most interesting players of the offseason."

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