The Grizzlies’ humbling NBA Playoff run could be the best thing for their future

Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

The Memphis Grizzlies were humbled, and it could be the best thing for their future.

Who has spiraled more aggressively in the eyes of the national NBA landscape over the last calendar year than the Memphis Grizzlies?

In just 365 days, the team has gone from media and NBA darlings viewed as full of swagger and fun to a group of pariahs not welcome in the league’s postseason proceedings. Last year? Trash talking and high-energy play was all the rage as the Grizzlies surprised the NBA elite with their abrupt arrival on the scene. But now it has gotten so bad for the Grizzlies that when given the choice by opposing fan bases between the Lakers and Memphis by the end of the series, it seemed on social media like the vast majority wanted to see L.A. — that plucky underdog story of exceptionalism and egocentric activity in their own right — move on and for the Grizzlies to receive a comeuppance they didn’t just deserve – but needed.

Oh the times, they are a’changing.

The Grizzlies franchise, after a blisteringly embarrassing 40-point defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 this past Friday, still has an objectively bright future. Their three core, All-Star or better caliber players are all below the age of 25, is set to be in Memphis for at least the next three years together. The front office has all their own first round picks, plus the 2024 1st (top-3 protected) of the Golden State Warriors, to send out in a trade. And they can pair those picks with any number of mid-sized contracts and young players on rookie deals to try to make upgrades for a roster that, clearly, is in need of them.

But the core – Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Desmond Bane – is there. And once Bane signs his nine-figure extension likely north in terms of value of deals for Tyler Herro and Jordan Poole, they’ll be locked in to Memphis for the foreseeable future.

That still doesn’t change the immediate reality that is the Grizzlies being seen as a front-running, trash-talking, failure in the eyes of many. That stings.

And it feels worse than it does perhaps in other places because of that demeanor that one made Memphis the young darlings of the NBA, but now has them down lower than they have been at any point of the Ja Morant Era. Other top seeds fell in the 1st round. But the Milwaukee Bucks have elite perspective from their star. The Sacramento Kings made a hell of a run at an all-time great in Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors dynasty he leads in their first postseason appearance in a decade and a half.

The Grizzlies didn’t just fall – they fell flat on their collective faces.

Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

The team had been on an upward trajectory until this postseason. Every year, the Grizzlies got better. And every year, the path to a championship seemed to become more and more clear. But mud got slung on the window this season – off the court issues for Ja Morant, and as Grizzlies General Manager Zach Kleiman put it “self-inflicted distractions” that surely includes Dillon Brooks poking bears and at LeBron James’ age, were the most egregious problems for the franchise.

The Morant suspension and poor decision making has had the most significant impact on the way Memphis’ season has gone and how they are perceived. It also has likely cost Ja a super-max contract extension for making a Second-Team All-NBA Team, and therefore $40 million in the process. But Morant was noticeably different when he returned to Memphis’ lineup, and those differences were reflected in his end of season media availability on Sunday.

Accountability and self-awareness hasn’t come easily to these Grizzlies. But the humbling season Memphis has been through – and most importantly its biggest star has endured – could perhaps be the best thing in the long run that could’ve happened for the franchise.

It’s not just Morant’s fault, of course. Desmond Bane outwardly said Memphis would be back for a Sunday Game 7 (spoiler alert – that did not occur). And Dillon Brooks is the one that now-infamously irritated LeBron James and provided motivation to a Lakers roster behind LeBron that had more to do with the elimination of the Grizzlies than James himself.

But Morant’s perspective has shifted. And Bane, while saying what he said and surely providing “bulletin board” material for Los Angeles, was not attacking any individual player. He was speaking confidently about his team – an aspect of the Grizzlies “chip on their shoulder” mentality that hopefully sticks around, if the incessant trash talk does not.

But if the noise is to be silenced for Memphis, that likely means one of the more major moves of the Morant Era is on the way.

Dillon Brooks has started 318 games for the Memphis Grizzlies since his arrival in 2017. He is the longest-tenured Grizzlies player, having seen the dark days of the end of Grit and Grind and the bright rise of this next Memphis generation. He’s helped build the culture that exists – the confidence, the energy, the tenacity. A lot of what has helped the young Grizzlies – still one of the youngest rosters in the entire NBA – get to this point has Brooks’ fingerprints all over it.

But as the team transitions to one that doesn’t just talk like a title contender, but actually acts like one, it likely means the end of Brooks’ time with the franchise.

Picking him out as the scapegoat for the failure of this season is a mistake. Context matters – injuries hurt the Grizzlies, being without Steven Adams, Brandon Clarke, and in Game 6 specifically Luke Kennard. The Morant issues, and the underperforming of the three Memphis stars in Game 6, Grizzlies Head Coach being out-schemed by Darvin Ham, the decision of the Memphis front office to not just double-down, but triple-down on youth this past summer when moving on from De’Anthony Melton and Kyle Anderson…there is plenty of blame to go around both in the short and long-term.

But the major difference is, Morant, Jenkins, Kleiman, and others acknowledged those issues and are setting forth to change them. Dillon Brooks says he will “continue to be me”.

That is, indeed, what got Brooks to the NBA and an All-Defensive Team type of career from Oregon as a 2nd round pick. But it also may mean he will be one of the “assets” Memphis leans on to better their roster as a sign-and-trade option this offseason as he approaches free agency.

Brooks and 2-3 first round picks in a sign-and-trade with the Toronto Raptors for OG Anunoby, for example, could be attractive to both sides depending on the direction the Raptors go. Players involved in a sign-and-trade must approve of the end destination, and Brooks, an Ontario, Canada native, would almost certainly welcome a return home. Brooks has value as a defender, and perhaps in a new space could adapt to a new role as a reserve/6th man in a new setting.

Anunoby, meanwhile, can opt-out of his contract in 2024 and should make considerably more money than Brooks. Memphis could provide a lane to an extension and being part of an already elite, younger core than that of the Raptors.

That’s just one example of how the Memphis-Brooks marriage can potentially end. But while Dillon was a vital piece of what was for the Grizzlies, it’s clearer than ever he cannot be part of what must be. Brooks helped these young Memphis players find their voice and be one of the best young teams in years in the NBA.

But the time to talk is ending. And in a summer of developing silence from the Memphis Grizzlies in one manner, the loudest way they can show their determination to learn and grow from a tumultuous season is to move on from those not willing – or able – to do the same.