After a tumultuous season which saw them finish down toward the bottom of the Western Conference standings, the Memphis Gizzlies are seeking to return to NBA playoff contention next season.
These hopes are thought to have been boosted by the return of Ja Morant to the lineup after a 2023-24 campaign mired by suspension and then injury, with league insider Mark Medina believing that he ‘instantly changes’ the trajectory of the team’s success.
Looking To Re-Establish Themselves in the Playoff Conversation
Grizzlies dropped from 2nd in the standings (2022-23) to 13th (2023-24)
Just two seasons ago, the Grizzlies had their name associated with one of the teams that could come out of the Western Conference and reach the NBA Finals, but after an abrupt exit from the playoffs, falling in the conference semi-finals to LeBron James and the seventh-seeded things continued to go awry.
Franchise star Ja Morant was handed a 25-game suspension to start the 2023-24 campaign for ‘reckless’ conduct after a video surfaced of him brandishing a firearm in a car, the second such time he was caught engaging in such activity in a three-month span, having also served an eight-game suspension back toward the end of the 2022-23 regular season.
Having traded for Marcus Smart from the
Boston Celtics to cover some void vacated by Morant’s suspension at the guard position, the Grizzlies were hoping to keep the team afloat until his return, but they faced yet more adversity in the form of an onslaught of injuries, including Smart, who suited up just 20 times, Desmond Bane , and Derrick Rose .
| Memphis Grizzlies – Sharp Contrast in Performances | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
| PTS | 116.9 | 105.8 |
| OPP PTS | 113.0 | 112.8 |
| OFF RTG | 114.7 | 106.8 |
| DEF RTG | 110.7 | 113.7 |
| NET RTG | 4.0 | -6.9 |
Morant’s return to the lineup saw him pick up where he left off, leading his team to victory in his first game back with a game-winning floater over the but his season would last just nine games before he too suffered an injury to his right shoulder.
The Grizzlies went 6-3 in those nine games, but finished the season with a lowly 27-55 record, granting them a lottery pick, with which they were awarded the ninth overall pick and selected Zach Edey out of Purdue – someone who could well become a dark horse Rookie of the Year candidate with him expected to be an immediate impact player.
But, with Morant now fully cleared to resume basketball activities, a strong rookie outing by GG Jackson II , and promise shown by Edey in the Summer League, the future has perhaps never looked brighter for Memphis to return back to the top end of the standings and battle it out for the chance to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals.
Morant ‘Instantly Changes’ Grizzlies for the Better
Medina is certain that the Grizzlies will return to the playoffs next season with their chances boosted by the return of Morant, but due to the surrounding teams in the Western Conference improving, the journalist doesn’t necessarily tout them as one of the leading contenders.
“They’re instantly a playoff team. It’s hard for me to think they’re immediate contenders only because everyone else in the West has gotten better since Ja Morant’s been out. Oklahoma City, Dallas Mavericks, I would put them at one and two, and the Denver Nuggets would be third. Minnesota would be fourth, maybe the Lakers fifth.
But make no mistake, Ja Morant instantly changes that team. When he was back after his suspension, they went 6-3, and there was a lot of internal optimism that even though they were at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, that they could make up enough ground because of just how great Morant is, and sneak into the playoffs through the Play-In or as a sixth seed.”
Morant Won’t ‘Miss a Beat’ Next Season
Medina further argues that having a full off-season to get some full reps in will ‘shake off’ any rust from having missed so much time with his injury, which will potentially ensure that he finds his form from the jump.
“Now that Ja Morant has a full off-season to start his conditioning work and get back into shape and be with the team, he’s going to have a full training camp to shake off the rust and get the chemistry back going. So he’s not going to miss a beat once the season starts.
With all that said, it’s good enough for the Grizzlies to be a sixth seed, but I don’t think it’s good enough to say they’re a championship contending team yet, but they can build from this.”
Exploding Back Into the Action
Morant is one of the league’s most exciting stars
The NBA moves fast, but people should not forget that Morant is one of the most electrifying talents in the league, and with a full off-season behind him, will be hoping to make his mark right from the opening tip off.
Throughout his young career, he has gone from strength-to-strength, and arguably his breakout season came back in 2021-22 where his 27.4 points on a career-high 49.3 percent field goal shooting, 5.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game saw him named an All-Star for the first time, while he also won the league’s Most Improved Player award, and made the All-NBA second team.
Since then, he has widely been viewed as being one of the future faces of the league – though his off-court demeanor may have thwarted that slightly – with his ability to be able to take his Grizzlies team from missing the playoffs for three seasons to being one of the teams who are consistently within the top six seeds (excluding last season).
While he is an explosive dunker of the basketball with his 42-inch vertical, he has also developed into a premier playmaker, where he averaged 8.1 dimes in the 2022-23 season, a figure which he was able to replicate in his short nine outings last season, both of which ranked inside the top 10 in the league for those respective seasons (eighth overall).
| Ja Morant Statistics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
| PPG | 27.4 | 26.2 |
| RPG | 5.7 | 5.9 |
| APG | 6.7 | 8.1 |
| FG% | 49.3 | 46.6 |
In fact, despite making just nine appearances, Morant’s assist numbers far exceeded any of those on the roster, with his dishes created 19.6 points per contest, with an assist-to-pass percentage of 16 percent, which also ranked eighth in the league among those to have played in nine games or more.
Though it could be argued that such a small sample size is not necessarily representative, the 25-year-old’s 20.3 points created off of his dishes during the 2022-23 campaign, at an assist-to-pass percentage of 17.2 percent in 51 outings ranked second in the league among those to have played 20 or more contests, and was bettered by only Trae Young of the
As such, Morant’s return to the court will be a much-welcomed one by the Grizzlies, with his presence alone enough to help fire the team up the standings, though they face stiffer competition than ever in the West now.
With their deeper squad, they may find that they are one of the most underrated teams by others – though they will not see themselves that way – going into next season, but Morant is ready to lead from the front once again, and with the two-time All-Star at the helm, nobody can write this gritty Memphis team off.
