Ahead of their big matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night, the Memphis Grizzlies announced they have parted ways with head coach Taylor Jenkins.
“I’m genuinely appreciative of Taylor’s contributions to this team and this city over the past six seasons,” said Grizzlies President and GM of Basketball Operations Zach Kleiman. “This was a difficult decision, given the consistent and tangible development of our players and overall success under Taylor’s leadership. I wish Taylor the very best going forward.”
This move is a bit of a stunner as Jenkins went 250-214 with the Grizzlies, the most coaching wins in franchise history. They currently sit at 44-29, tied with the Lakers for fourth place in the Western Conference. That is despite Ja Morant and their other stars sitting numerous games this season.
After having an injury-plagued 2023-24 season, the Grizzlies seemingly righted the ship and are back in the mix for contention this season. That’s why firing Jenkins with nine games to go in the regular season comes as such a shock, even if the Grizzlies have struggled lately losing four of their last five and nine of their last 15.
It will be interesting to see how this change impacts the Grizzlies in both the short term and long term. The matchup with the Lakers on Saturday night is a massive one as far as Western Conference standings implications go with them currently tied for fourth in the West. The Grizzlies are naming assistant Tuomas Iisalo as the interim head coach.
Sometimes a coaching change can energize a team, while other times it can deflate them. The Lakers already went through this once this season when the Kings fired Mike Brown and Doug Christie made his head coaching debut in L.A. The Lakers were able to win that game, but the Kings were clearly playing with a different energy than they were before the change.
LeBron James accountable for ‘horrible’ turnover in Lakers loss to Bulls
The Lakers will be looking to get back on track against the Grizzlies as they are coming off a heartbreaking loss to the Chicago Bulls on a half-court buzzer-beater by Josh Giddey. L.A. choked that game away and LeBron James was accountable for his role in that.
“I mean, we put ourselves in position to win. Gave up a lot of 3s in the fourth quarter, but still put ourselves in a position to win. Horrible turnover by myself. Bad miscommunication the play before that, but AR still hit a big bucket trying to save us and then you tip you hat when someone makes a game-winner from half-court.”
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