Wow.

That was Mike Conley’s one-word tweet not long after the Grizzlies traded Rudy Gay to the Toronto Raptors Wednesday afternoon in a three-team deal that, more than anything, signifies change is going to be the one constant for a while under new majority owner Robert Pera and right-hand man Jason Levien.

For Grizzlies fans who were tempted to think the earlier deal that sent Mo Speights, Wayne Ellington, Josh Selby and a protected first-round pick to Cleveland and saved the team more than $6 million in salary and a $4 million luxury tax bill meant the team had achieved its short-term goals, the trade of Gay had to be a shock (center Hamed Haddadi also went in the deal).

Certainly, Conley’s tweet communicates shock. But truthfully, we shouldn’t be that surprised. The Memphis NBA franchise is now in the hands of people who really have little or nothing in common with the old-guard NBA and they have to operate the team in a new-world economy where the luxury tax is ever more punitive. That’s not palpable for a new owner in a small market.

We all deal with financial realities we don’t necessarily like in our daily lives. Only our decisions are typically on a much smaller scale. If we have to cut back, we drive the car an extra year or two and maybe downsize the next vacation. But if you’re Robert Pera, tough decisions are bigger. You bring in John Hollinger, the analytics expert from ESPN, and his metrics tell you Gay may be athletic and graceful but ultimately is only an average NBA player. Yet he’s making more than $16 million this year and is due more than $37 million over the next two seasons. That’s not average pay. That’s not logical if you’re one the signing the checks.

So whether Grizzlies fans like it or not, the deal makes a lot of sense from where Pera sits. We won’t go into all the details of every player involved the trade now, but veteran Tayshaun Prince comes from Detroit and several things are immediately apparent: he’s older (almost 33), cheaper (around $7 million per season), a better 3-point shooter, a more tenacious defender, and less athletic. At worst, it looks like a push. Plus, the Grizzlies are getting a couple of young forwards. And yes, that may mean the larger plan could include parting with Zach Randolph after the season. But that’s a “wow” for another day.

Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph leads the NBA with 27 double-doubles. Now, he has doubled the number of his NBA All-Star Game selections. Randolph, who is second in the league with 11.6 rebounds and is averaging 16.1 points per game, was chosen by coaches to be a Western Conference reserve player for the Feb. 17 game in Houston.

The Grizzlies now have had four All-Star selections: Z-Bo twice and brothers Pau and Marc Gasol once each.

Maybe I missed the memo from On High stating otherwise, but I was under the impression that playing the game by the rules — not pumping your stats and your salary with performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) — was one of the basic requirements for being worthy of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Fortunately, at least for this year, a lot of baseball writers agree with that assessment because no one was voted in — the first time this has happened since the 1990s. Yet since Wednesday’s results were announced, ESPN has been overrun with national baseball experts complaining that something must be done about the HOF and the voting process so the doors can be opened to obvious PED cheats such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

Well, guess what? The HOF is a museum, too, and as such players’ on-field feats — tainted or not — already are recognized. Same goes for Pete Rose’s hit record. So it’s not like if you take a trip to Cooperstown that you would return wondering why Bonds, Clemens, Rose and others were completely ignored. They are not ignored.

They also are not honored as HOF players. Nor should they be. After Wednesday’s results were announced, several HOF players came out and said they were very happy the cheats were not voted in. From Goose Gossage to Al Kaline their position was clear:

We earned our way here. These guys didn’t.

The Baseball Hall of Fame needn’t go post-modern. Unless you want to bend all the rules. Four outs per inning? Five? There’s no end to it once you go there.

Let Bonds and Clemens commission their own bronze busts. Extra large ones … yeah, that’s about right.

On Opening Night in Los Angeles, the Clippers beat the Grizzlies 101-92. No team has cracked the 100-point barrier against Memphis since.

Friday night, Dec. 21, at FedExForum, the Grizz won their fourth straight game, 92-82, over O.J. Mayo and the Dallas Mavericks. The Grizzlies swept their three-game homestand this past week and held opponents to an average of 77.7 points per game. Mayo, in his return to Memphis, scored just 10 as Tony Allen applied his usual tenacious defense and turned it up a notch as coach Lionel Hollins put Allen on the floor every time Mayo was on the court.

“It was pretty much, `O.J. is not getting anything …’” Mayo said afterward.

It is the attitude the Grizzlies have had toward every opponent of late as they moved their record to 18-6, 12-2 at FedExForum.

“We’re really getting to people and getting that mentality of going out there and guarding people,” center Marc Gasol said. “We take it personally … now we have to carry it on the road.”

The Grizzlies play at Houston on Saturday, Dec. 22, at Houston. They return for home games against Philadelphia on Wednesday, Dec. 26, and vs. Denver on Friday, Dec. 28.

On Thursday, Dec. 27, check out memphisdailynews.com for a full story on the Grizzlies post-O.J. and Mayo’s fresh start in Dallas.

So a trip to the Bahamas was miserable and a Thursday in Memphis playing lowly UT Martin was paradise.

Hard to believe but true after the Tigers won, 93-65, improved to 4-2, and finally got to breathe a sigh of relief. Not that anyone has yet forgotten the disappointing losses to VCU and Minnesota — or even the difficult win over Northern Iowa — but Thursday’s victory did provide a respite.

Freshman Shaq Goodwin was fantastic, scoring 17 points with 12 boards, 2 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. Combo guard Joe Jackson — this has to be the new way to refer to him — handed out 8 assists while scoring 13 with two steals and a block and just 1 turnover.

“In college basketball, the two (guard position) is basically the one,” Jackson said, explaining that he’s not worrying about position anymore. “I’m a basketball player.”

A simple and effective solution, that. At least for a night. Coach Josh Pastner clearly still felt stung by the week’s criticism from fans and media and in the post-game presser spent much time talking about the ills of negativity. He even invited media members to call his voice mail where they could hear a positive message and lift their cynical spirits.

What any of this means going forward is anyone’s guess, of course. The Tigers seem to see the college basketball season and an amusement park as one in the same — there’s always time for another ride on the roller coaster. Ohio, a Sweet 16 team last season, comes calling next Wednesday. It is a good team, much closer to VCU than UT Martin.

Beat Ohio and hope returns with the Dec. 15 game against Louisville just around the corner. Lose to Ohio and … wait, wait, I’m not going there. Because believe or not, I’d like to enjoy this respite, too.