Former UConn Huskies guard Jordan Hawkins made a brief stop in Memphis, but he didn’t even make it out of training camp.
The Grizzlies will waive the ex-UConn star, a mutual parting reported by Shams Charania of ESPN and first detailed by Hoops Rumors, so the 2023 lottery pick can look for a new team in free agency.
For Huskies fans, the news lands as another reminder of how far the NBA path has drifted from the player who helped Dan Hurley’s program win a national title.
Hawkins arrived in Storrs as a shooter and left as one of the most important pieces of the 2023 championship team. As a sophomore he averaged 16.2 points and 3.8 rebounds while shooting 38.8 percent from three on heavy volume, earned first-team All-Big East honors, and started every game.
In March, he was named Most Outstanding Player of the West Regional after back-to-back big nights against Arkansas and Gonzaga, including six threes in an 82-54 Elite Eight win over the Zags.
He scored 16 points in the national championship game as UConn beat San Diego State 76-59.
The New Orleans Pelicans took him 14th overall a few months later, betting that the release and the March pedigree would travel. Three seasons on, that bet has not paid off the way the draft slot suggested.
Hawkins averaged 9.2 points in 20.2 minutes over his first two years, then saw his role shrink under a new front office in 2025-26 to 5.1 points and 13.6 minutes across 51 games.
The three-point stroke that defined him in Storrs settled in the mid-30s in the NBA, useful but not enough to lock down minutes in a crowded backcourt.
New Orleans moved him and Micah Peavy to Memphis last month in a cost-cutting deal that also sent draft capital the Grizzlies’ way. The change of scenery lasted about three weeks.
Memphis is squeezed for roster spots, and previous reporting had already suggested several teams would have interest if Hawkins reached the open market.
Assuming he clears waivers, the Grizzlies remain responsible for his full $7,021,895 salary this season, dead money they can absorb while still sitting well below the luxury-tax line.
At 24, Hawkins is young enough that a cleaner role could still change the story. The player UConn remembers is the one who could tilt a possession from the logo and who delivered when the tournament got loud.
The player the league has seen is a former lottery pick still searching for a rotation that trusts that shot. The waiver gives him a chance to find it somewhere other than Memphis.
