With Sunday’s 119-97 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Memphis Grizzlies early season record fell to 3-13. They have yet to win a game at home in the new season. Their roster is so depleted the league recently granted them two hardship exemptions to sign players. Their situation shows just how quickly a team’s status can change, and how the combination of injuries and personnel issues can torpedo a team many once thought was on the edge of being a great one.
Last year it seemed the Grizzlies had arrived. They finished the regular season with the second best record in the NBA’s Western Conference and the top home mark. They had the league’s youngest roster, something that some observers felt might be a problem, but others saw as a great opportunity for them to excel before having to pay big money to aging veterans. But then things fell apart in the playoffs. Facing the Lakers, a team that had to advance from the play-in tournament, the Grizzlies were eliminated in five games, and blown out in two of them. They looked like an immature, undisciplined club on the court, while off it Dillon Brooks, ostensibly their best defensive player, was making headlines for ill-advised comments about Lebron James. It was hardly the way anyone envisioned their season ending.
But that playoff defeat was quickly overshadowed by another, larger problem, one that continues to spark concern regarding the Grizzlies future. That’s the conduct of their top player, guard Ja Morant. Two years ago Morant won the NBA’s Most improved Player award. He’s an electrifying, high-voltage type, whose remarkable athletic exploits had frequently landed him on ESPN’s SportsCenter highlights segment. Morant had another big year last season, averaging nearly 28 points a game (27.4) while shooting 49.3 percent. Over his four seasons for the Grizzlies Morant has averaged 22.4 points, 7.4 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 248 regular-season games. He’s been selected to play in two All-Star games. He has also won the Rookie of the Year award in addition to his other honors.
But in the midst of his best season on the court, Morant proved a trouble soul off it. In March he received an eight-game suspension after an Instagram video showed him displaying a firearm in a Denver-area nightclub. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver got a lot of criticism for that, with many feeling he hadn’t been nearly hard enough on Morant. The Grizzlies also suspended him from team activities at that time. Following time spent in a Florida counseling facility, Morant seemed contrite in various interviews and resumed his place on the team. But two months later, Morant was once again caught on video posing with a firearm in a car. The league took two more months before issuing its decision. But this time he got a 25-game suspension that began with the start of the 2023-24 season. He also was again suspended from all team activities.
Silver this time had much harsher things to say regarding Morant. “Ja Morant’s decision to once again wield a firearm on social media is alarming and disconcerting given his similar conduct in March for which he was already suspended eight games,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in the league’s statement. “The potential for other young people to emulate Ja’s conduct is particularly concerning. Under these circumstances, we believe a suspension of 25 games is appropriate and makes clear that engaging in reckless and irresponsible behavior with guns will not be tolerated.”
The Grizzlies traded Brooks in the offseason, sending him to Houston. They’ve also been hit with a rash of injuries. Center Stephen Adams, who led the NBA in offensive rebounding much of last season, is out for the year with a knee injury. Key reserve Brandon Clarke is recovering from Achilles tendon surgery. Guard Marcus Smart, whom they acquired from Boston in the offseason as a veteran who could bring leadership and poise to the locker room, is also out for at least three more weeks from an injury he incurred after only playing a handful of games.
The Grizzlies have already been eliminated from any chance at advancing in the league’s inaugural in-season Tournament. Despite their poor early season play, attendance at home has been good. Last Friday’s post-Thanksgiving Day afternoon game against the Phoenix Suns was a sellout. Basketball remains hugely popular in Memphis, and the Grizzlies are negotiating with the city for an extension of their lease in the wake of rumors about a possible relocation.
Still, this season may be a lost cause. The Western Conference as usual is super tough. The defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets look just as formidable as last season. Two teams that weren’t so great last year the Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder are much improved, while the Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks are still tough teams, and both the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers can pose problems on any given night.
With their dismal start, the Grizzlies are 14th among 15 teams in the West, leading only the San Antonio Spurs, one of the three teams they’ve beaten so far. They’re four and a half games out of last play-in spot, and now have to spend their remaining 66 games trying to climb over a bunch of teams to even have a chance at the play-in tournament. They are seven games behind the Sacramento Kings for the sixth and final playoff spot. They’ve already done the one thing that teams never want to do in the early part of the year, get buried in the standings.
Even more importantly, who knows what kind of shape their best player will be in when he finally returns from his 25-game suspension. The team may well be so far behind at that point it won’t matter anyhow, but it will in terms of his future. Morant won’t turn 25 until next August, and under ordinary circumstances would be considered a cornerstone player. But the Grizzlies have to wonder not only what he will be like on the court once he resumes playing, but whether they can depend on him not to have any other behavioral problems off it.
That’s not exactly the question clubs like to ponder, but the answer to it will go a long way towards determining the fate of the Memphis Grizzlies, not just for 2023-24 but for many years to come. It will also determine the future of Ja Morant, not just in the NBA, but in his life beyond it.
