In a shocking dismissal, the Memphis Grizzlies fired head coach Taylor Jenkins on Friday afternoon, letting go one of the NBA’s most respected coaches only a few weeks before the start of the playoffs.
The Grizzlies own a 44-29 record. They are in fifth place, nearly as close to second as they are seventh, on their way to clinching their fourth guaranteed playoff berth in five years in the Western Conference.
This is an incredible coaching job by any measure.
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Their most electrifying player, Ja Morant, has missed a third of the season, including their most recent stretch of four losses in five games. He is one of the league’s more unreliable superstars, missing time this season for, among other things, injuries to his back, shoulder, thigh, hip, knee, foot and hamstring.
The Grizzlies have for years faced a rash of injuries to the roster. In the process, Jenkins has developed a stockpile of contributors from a relatively unknown cast of characters. They start a pair of rookies, Zach Edey and Jaylen Wells. This is to say nothing of the development of Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane.
Taylor Jenkins was the runner-up for Coach of the Year in 2022. (Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
(Sam Hodde via Getty Images)
There is not an aspect of coaching that has fallen short, at least from an outsider’s perspective. Even their two most recent postseason exits were marred by injuries to Morant. The star’s absence for all but nine games last season led to a 27-55 record, a top-10 pick and sweeping changes to the coaching staff.
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Which brings us to the awkward timing of Jenkins’ exit, the real story here. To fire a coach with nine games left in the season, weeks before a playoff run, is, at least in recent memory, unprecedented. Amid roster turmoil on the New York Knicks in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season, Mike D’Antoni resigned with a month to go before the playoffs, as the team was positioned as a seventh seed in the East.
D’Antoni’s exit was not surprising, though the timing was. D’Antoni ended his tenure in New York with a losing record, and those Knicks lost a first-round playoff series in five games. This is different. Jenkins finished runner-up in the Coach of the Year race in 2022, when last his Grizzlies secured the No. 2 seed.
They were on their way again this year, at least until this recent skid. The Grizzlies are 6-9 since the end of February, owners of a middling outfit on both sides of the ball. There are extenuating circumstances. Morant is nursing a hamstring injury. Brandon Clarke was just ruled out for the season — again. The front office shed talent at the deadline, trading Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia, purely in cost-cutting moves.
And they axed Jenkins as he dealt with the pitfalls.
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He will be replaced in the interim by Finnish coach Tuomas Iisalo, who was among a handful of hires to the staff this past July. The EuroCup Coach of the Year, Iisalo is similarly well-respected in league circles.
Maybe that is the thing. Maybe it was only a matter of time before the Grizzlies moved on from Jenkins in favor of Iisalo, who they apparently believe is better equipped to lead Memphis into the future. And maybe they were just waiting for a crack in the foundation — this recent stretch — to make their move.
The timing is still weird, though. You hope this does not lower the Grizzlies’ ceiling in a season in which they will enter the playoffs with championship aspirations, even if they are long shots. You hope Iisalo can reestablish a culture in a matter of weeks and connect with a superstar whose return to the lineup is still unknown.
And you hope there is not more to the story, but, like, there has to be, right? Or else the best available coaching candidate just entered the market, and teams will be lining up to be the next to hire Jenkins.
