Memphis Grizzlies Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Injury Notes: Butler, Garland, Heat, Bucks

April 25th, 2025 at 6:38pm CST by Luke Adams

Warriors swingman Jimmy Butler has been listed as questionable to play on Saturday vs. Houston and was referred to by head coach Steve Kerr on Friday as “day-to-day,” according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Kerr isn’t ruling out the possibility of Butler suiting up for Game 3.

“I’m relatively optimistic,” Kerr said. “I mean, Jimmy is Jimmy. We know he’s willing to play through anything, so we’ll see. I mean, this is a day-to-day thing for sure, and we’ll see how he feels tomorrow, but I think there’s a chance he plays.”

Kerr noted Butler’s injury is “very similar” to the one Stephen Curry suffered in March, which cost the Warriors star two games.

“It’s a pain tolerance thing, that’s why he’s day-to-day,” Kerr added.

Butler isn’t the only Warrior whose status for Saturday’s contest is up in the air. Veteran guard Gary Payton II has been listed as questionable due to a right shoulder strain after averaging just under 14 minutes per night in the first two games of the series, Youngmisuk notes.

The good news for Golden State is that guard Brandin Podziemski isn’t listed on the injury report after being limited to 14 minutes in Game 2 due to an illness. Podziemski said he’s ready to go for Game 3.

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland is listed as questionable to play in Game 3 vs. Miami on Saturday due to a big toe sprain on his left foot, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Garland has averaged 24.0 points and 7.0 assists per night in the first two games of the series, both Cleveland wins.
Heat big man Kevin Love (personal reasons) and guard Terry Rozier (left ankle sprain) will remain out for Game 3 on Saturday, but the rest of the roster is available, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter links). Rozier was unable to practice on Friday due to his ankle injury, Winderman adds.
While neither player would have been in the rotation, the Bucks have ruled out Tyler Smith (left ankle sprain) and Chris Livingston (personal reasons) for Friday’s Game 3 vs. Indiana, the team announced (Twitter links).
In case you missed it, while Shams Charania reported that Grizzlies star Ja Morant would miss Game 4 on Saturday vs. Oklahoma City due to his hip injury, Memphis isn’t entirely closing the door on the possibility of Morant suiting up, having listed him as doubtful. His injury designation is a hip contusion.

Lawsuit Against Morant Has Been Dismissed

April 24th, 2025 at 1:38pm CST by Rory Maher

A lawsuit against Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant has been dismissed, reports Adrian Sainz of The Associated Press. Joshua Holloway, who was 17 at the time and recently finished his sophomore season as a player at Samford University, sued Morant for assault for punching him in the face at a pickup game he was invited to at the home of Morant’s parents in July 2022. Morant countered by saying he was acting in self-defense after Holloway threw the ball at his face. Shelby County Circuit Judge Carol Chumney agreed that Morant acted in self-defense and was immune to civil liability in the case, in part due to the testimony of other witnesses present, as Sainz details.

Grizzlies Notes: Game 1 Loss, Morant, Bagley

April 22nd, 2025 at 12:28pm CST by Luke Adams

After falling behind by as many as 56 points, the Grizzlies lost by 51 to the Thunder on Sunday in Game 1 of their first-round series. However, as Tim MacMahon of ESPN and Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal write, Memphis’ players didn’t seem demoralized by the loss in the locker room after the game.

Star point guard Ja Morant vowed, “We will never play that bad again,” while wing Desmond Bane spoke about the need to “turn the page fast” ahead of Tuesday’s Game 2.

“At the end of the day, it’s one game,” Bane said on Sunday. “If we lose by 50 or lose on a buzzer-beater, the series is still 1-0. Not the result we wanted for sure, but still got a good opportunity to get one on the road in two days.”

Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr., the team’s most valuable player during the regular season, had his worst game of the season in Game 1, with four points, three rebounds, and three turnovers. He’s not expecting a repeat of that showing.

“In every area, I can get better,” Jackson said, according to William Guillory of The Athletic. “There’s so much room for improvement after a loss like that. It’s definitely just one game. That’s how a series works. We can’t really overthink things in any way. … I’m going to figure out a way to play better and get myself involved in the series. Then, we’ll be good.”

Here’s more on the Grizzlies:

After the Grizzlies defeated Dallas in Friday’s play-in game, Morant referred to his right ankle sprain as a “difficult” injury and hinted that he wouldn’t have been on the court if it were a regular season contest. “Obviously, regular season games, it’s not win or go home,” Morant said (story via ESPN). “So this one was way more difficult — the whole process, like, learning what I would have to do to be able to get out there. I was kind of questioning it, but with our staff, the doctors, they gave me all the info I needed and [in the] simplest terms so I will understand.” Following Sunday’s Game 1 vs. Oklahoma City, Morant declined to say whether he was still receiving pain-killing injections for the ankle and dismissed the idea that the injury affected his performance. “It felt good,” he said, per MacMahon.
A trade-deadline acquisition, big man Marvin Bagley III averaged just 8.3 minutes per game in 12 appearances for the Grizzlies in the regular season. On Sunday, the former No. 2 overall pick racked up 17 points on 8-of-8 shooting in 16 minutes across the first three quarters. Bagley’s strong play was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise forgettable game and could earn him a longer look going forward, per Michael Wallace of Grind City Media. “Marvin’s performance was extremely encouraging,” interim head coach Tuomas Iisalo said. “In the absence of (injured forward) Brandon (Clarke), we have not been strong in those minutes. And it seems like we’ve found a solution with Marvin.”
Even if the Grizzlies play better for the rest of the series than they did in Game 1, the same will likely be true of Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored a season-low 15 points on 4-of-13 shooting on Sunday, writes Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic, noting that doesn’t bode well for Memphis.

2025 NBA Draft Tiebreaker Results

April 21st, 2025 at 4:28pm CST by Luke Adams

Tiebreakers among teams with identical regular-season records were broken on Monday through random drawings to determine the order for this year’s draft prior to the lottery.

The results are as follows, according to a press release from the league (Twitter link):

Phoenix Suns (No. 9) over Portland Trail Blazers (No. 10)
- The Suns will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Trail Blazers.
- The Suns’ pick will be sent to the Rockets.
Dallas Mavericks (No. 11) over Chicago Bulls (No. 12)
- The Mavericks will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Bulls.
Sacramento Kings (No. 13) over Atlanta Hawks (No. 14)
- The Kings will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Hawks.
- The Kings’ pick will be sent to the Hawks if it’s outside of the top 12.
- The Hawks’ pick will be sent to the Spurs.
Memphis Grizzlies (No. 18) over Milwaukee Bucks (No. 19) over Golden State Warriors (No. 20)
- The Grizzlies’ pick will be sent to the Wizards.
- The Bucks’ pick will be sent to the Nets.
- The Warriors’ pick will be sent to the Heat.
Los Angeles Lakers (No. 22) over Indiana Pacers (No. 23) over Los Angeles Clippers (No. 24) over Denver Nuggets (No. 25)
- The Lakers’ pick will be sent to the Hawks.
- The Clippers’ pick will be sent to the Thunder.
- The Nuggets’ pick will be sent to the Magic.

While the tiebreaker winner will pick ahead of the loser(s) in the first round, that order will be flipped in the second round.

For instance, the Warriors’ second-round pick (traded to the Grizzlies) will be at No. 48, followed by the Bucks’ pick (traded to Detroit) at No. 49, and the Grizzlies (traded to New York) at No. 50 — that’s the opposite of their order in the first round.

For lottery teams that finished with identical records, the second-round order is still to be determined depending on the lottery results.

For example, if Phoenix’s first-round pick (traded to Houston) stays at No. 9 and the Blazers’ first-rounder stays at No. 10, Portland’s second-round pick (traded to Toronto) would be at No. 39 and Phoenix’s (traded to Washington) would be No. 40. But if the Trail Blazers win the No. 1 overall pick on lottery night, moving ahead of Phoenix in the first round, then the Suns’ second-round pick would be No. 39, while Portland’s would be No. 40.

We’ll publish the full lottery odds and pre-lottery draft order for 2025 later tonight.

NBA Announces Finalists For 2024/25 Awards

April 20th, 2025 at 6:22pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic are the three finalists for the league’s Most Valuable Player award this season, the league announced on Sunday (Twitter link).

While all three players put up monster numbers, Gilgeous-Alexander is generally considered the favorite to win the award due in large part to the Thunder’s team success this season. Oklahoma City won a league-high 68 regular season games, compared to 50 for Jokic’s Nuggets and 48 for Antetokounmpo’s Bucks.

The finalists for each award represent the top three vote-getters. The winners will be announced at a later date.

Here’s a rundown of the finalists for the major NBA awards voted on by media members:

Coach of the Year

Kenny Atkinson (Cavaliers)
J.B. Bickerstaff (Pistons)
Ime Udoka (Rockets)

Rookie of the Year

Stephon Castle (Spurs)
Zaccharie Risacher (Hawks)
Jaylen Wells (Grizzlies)

Sixth Man of the Year

Malik Beasley (Pistons)
Ty Jerome (Cavaliers)
Payton Pritchard (Celtics)

Defensive Player of the Year

Dyson Daniels (Hawks)
Draymond Green (Warriors)
Evan Mobley (Cavaliers)

Most Improved Player

Cade Cunningham (Pistons)
Dyson Daniels (Hawks)
Ivica Zubac (Clippers)

Clutch Player of the Year

Jalen Brunson (Knicks)
Anthony Edwards (Timberwolves)
Nikola Jokic (Nuggets)

Grizzlies Claim West’s Final Playoff Spot

April 18th, 2025 at 11:14pm CST by Luke Adams

The Grizzlies locked up the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with a convincing win over the Mavericks on Friday night in Memphis.

The Grizzlies scored the first seven points of the game and built a double-digit lead within the first five minutes. They never trailed en route to a 120-106 victory, locking up the No. 8 seed in the West and lining up a first-round series with the top-seeded Thunder.

Jaren Jackson Jr. (24 points, seven rebounds), Ja Morant (22 points, nine assists, seven rebounds), and Desmond Bane (22 points, nine assists) led the way for the Grizzlies, overcoming a 40-point performance by Dallas big man Anthony Davis.

While the Heat became the first No. 10 seed to win back-to-back play-in games earlier in the night, the No. 10 Mavericks couldn’t repeat that feat, bringing a tumultuous season in Dallas to a close. The Western play-in tournament played out largely as expected, with the No. 7 Warriors and No. 8 Grizzlies entering the playoffs with the same seeds they held at the end of the regular season.

Memphis’ win was crucial for the Wizards, who will now receive the Grizzlies’ first-round pick — it will be either No. 18, 19, or 20, depending on the results of a Monday tiebreaker. If the Grizzlies had lost on Friday, Washington would have instead received a pair of future second-round picks, since that first-rounder was top-14 protected.

The Mavericks will now be a lottery team and will end up either 11th or 12th in the pre-lottery draft order, depending on the results of a tiebreaker with Chicago.

While the Grizzlies will be significant underdogs against the 68-win Thunder in round one, it’s worth noting that Memphis was the second seed in the West for weeks at a time during the season, including as late as February 28. If the Grizzlies, who went 35-16 prior to the trade deadline, can recapture that form, they have a chance to make it a competitive series.

Ja Morant Available For Friday’s Play-In Game

April 18th, 2025 at 8:15pm CST by Luke Adams

The Grizzlies will have their star point guard available on Friday vs. Dallas as they look to clinch the eighth and final playoff seed in the West. After testing out his injured ankle during pregame warmups, Ja Morant will be in Memphis’ starting lineup, tweets Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Morant turned his right ankle in the third quarter of Tuesday’s loss to Golden State when he came down on Buddy Hield‘s foot. Although he looked hobbled for the rest of the night, the 25-year-old was able to finish the game and vowed to suit up on Friday.

However, after being diagnosed with a right ankle sprain, Morant didn’t practice on Thursday and was listed as questionable for Friday’s do-or-die game, with Grizzlies interim head coach Tuomas Iisalo referring to him as a game-time decision, per Cole.

Shams Charania of ESPN said during an appearance on NBA Today (Twitter video link) that Morant underwent an MRI on the injury, and while it showed no structural damage, the sprain is considered “severe.” According to Charania, the Grizzlies guard received an injection on Thursday to address swelling and pain in the ankle and got another injection on Friday (Twitter link).

After missing most of the 2023/24 season with a shoulder injury, Morant was limited to 50 appearances in ’24/25, having dealt with a series of injuries, including some recurring issues in his surgically repaired shoulder. He was still effective when he did suit up, averaging 23.2 points, 7.3 assists, and 4.1 rebounds in 30.4 minutes per contest.

As expected, both Anthony Davis (adductor strain) and Brandon Williams (oblique strain) will be available on Friday for the Mavericks, according to the team (Twitter link). Both players had been listed as probable.

The winner of Friday’s Southwest Division showdown will face Oklahoma City in the first round of the playoffs, while the losing team will end up in the draft lottery.

Poll: Who Will Win Friday’s Play-In Games?

April 18th, 2025 at 6:48am CST by Luke Adams

The higher seed came out on top in each of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 play-in games on Tuesday, but the two lower seeds pulled off upsets in the No. 9 vs. 10 contests on Wednesday, setting up a pair of No. 8 vs. 10 matchups on Friday to determine the final playoff teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences.

In the East, the No. 10 Heat will visit the No. 8 Hawks in a second consecutive battle of divisional rivals for Atlanta. The first of those matchups didn’t go well for the Hawks, who really struggled to get the ball in the basket against the NBA’s No. 2 defense on Tuesday in Orlando.

Trae Young (8-of-21), Zaccharie Risacher (2-of-10), and Caris LeVert (3-of-11) were among the players who had poor shooting nights vs. the Magic. Atlanta made a season-low four 3-pointers on the night and shot just 38.1% from the floor, including 19.0% from beyond the arc.

While the Heat weren’t quite as good defensively during the regular season as Orlando, they also ranked in the top 10 in defensive rating and played very well on that end of the court in Wednesday’s win over Chicago. The Bulls scored just 90 points on 39.8% shooting (27.0% on three-pointers). As the Hawks return home, they’ll need to figure out how to make more headway against the Heat’s defense than they did against the Magic’s.

The Hawks, who won 12 of their last 20 games of the regular season, had more momentum entering the play-in tournament than the Heat, who won just 12 of their last 33. Atlanta will also have home-court advantage on Friday.

But the two teams split their season series, and given how the first round of the play-in tournament played out, oddsmakers aren’t willing to give Atlanta the typical edge that would be awarded to the higher seed and home team. As I was writing this article, BetOnline.ag modified their betting line, which had been a pick-em, to make the Heat one-point favorites.

Over in the West, it’s the No. 8 Grizzlies hosting the No. 10 Mavericks in a battle of teams whose seasons have taken a nose-dive since the trade deadline. While Dallas was hammered by injuries and has been dealing with the fallout of the immensely unpopular Luka Doncic trade, Memphis has undergone a head coaching change and fell several spots in the standings.

The only reason the Grizzlies didn’t have the worst record (13-18) among all 10 Western Conference playoff/play-in teams between February 7 and the end of the regular season is because the Mavericks (12-18) were slightly worse.

Both teams were competitive in their first play-in matchups though. Memphis took the Warriors down to the wire in Golden State on Tuesday, while Dallas comfortably handled the Kings in Sacramento on Wednesday. There’s no shortage of talent on either roster, especially in the frontcourt, where Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. is a candidate for All-NBA and Defensive Player of the Year honors, while Mavericks big man Anthony Davis would have been too if he’d played enough games to qualify.

The Mavs’ Achilles heel is in their backcourt, where star point guard Kyrie Irving is unavailable after going down in March with a season-ending ACL tear. Dallas actually went without a starting point guard vs. Sacramento, rolling with a jumbo lineup featuring Davis, Dereck Lively, P.J. Washington, Naji Marshall, and Klay Thompson.

But former two-way player Brandon Williams, who was promoted to the 15-man roster in the final week of the season, showed why Dallas wanted him for the postseason. The undrafted point guard put up 17 points and five assists in 18 minutes off the bench — the Mavs outscored Sacramento by 24 points during those minutes.

The Grizzlies’ own star point guard, Ja Morant, vowed to play in Friday’s do-or-die game, but it remains to be seen how effective he’ll be. Morant sustained a sprained right ankle on Tuesday and clearly lost a step late in the game as he tried to play through that injury.

Home-court advantage could end up being a real factor here. The Grizzlies posted a 26-15 record in Memphis this season, while the Mavs went just 17-25 on the road. That’s likely a major reason why the oddsmakers at BetOnline currently have Memphis as the six-point favorite.

We want to know what you think. Will either the Heat or Mavericks become the first No. 10 seed since the play-in tournament was implemented in 2021 to earn a playoff spot? Or will the Hawks and Grizzlies defend their home courts and earn first-round series against Cleveland and Oklahoma City, respectively?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts and predictions!

Southwest Notes: Thompson, Harrison, Dumars, Udoka

April 17th, 2025 at 10:55am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Mavericks‘ play-in game victory in Sacramento had special meaning to Klay Thompson. He scored 23 points against the Kings, making five three-pointers along the way. Thompson missed all 10 of his field goal attempts last season against Sacramento in the play-in tournament, which wound up being his last game in a Warriors uniform.

“I wasn’t going to define myself off one bad shooting night,” he said, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “I mean, I’ve had some of the greatest shooting nights in the history of the game. So even someone in my caliber can go 0-for. … I try to not even think about that, but at times you do because you’re human. But you just keep going out there and do what you love.”

Dallas will now battle the Grizzlies for the No. 8 seed on Friday.

“I’m still alive. I’m excited,” Thompson said. “I get to go to Memphis. It was really fun (Wednesday) because you could just be fully immersed in the experience, and we’ve had a tumultuous season, to say the least. The injury bug has struck us like I’ve never seen before, but we’re still here playing postseason basketball.”

We have more from the Southwest Division:

Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison‘s contentious press conference, in which he stated he didn’t regret trading Luka Doncic, wasn’t something he suggested, ESPN’s Sham Charania tweets. “Nico Harrison did not want to do this closed-door roundtable. This was not his idea,” Charania said during an appearance on NBA Countdown. “This was something that was enforced by their owner, Patrick Dumont.”
Now that Joe Dumars has been officially hired as the Pelicans president of basketball operations, he has two big decisions to make, Rod Walker of NOLA.com writes. His first major decision will be whether to retain head coach Willie Green. As the offseason progresses, he’ll have to choose whether to retain Zion Williamson as the franchise player or trade him and take the franchise in another direction.
Dumars has spent the last three years as the NBA’s head of basketball operations and commissioner Adam Silver thanked him for his service in a statement relayed by The Athletic’s Sam Amick (Twitter link). “Joe brought tremendous credibility to his role at the league office and is one of the most genuine and respected people in all of basketball,” Silver said. “His exceptional playing career and tenure as an executive provided him with an elite understanding of the game and strong relationships around the NBA. We are grateful for Joe’s leadership over the past three years and wish him well as he begins his new role with the Pelicans.”
The Warriors are actually the betting favorite to win their first-round series against Houston even though the Rockets are the No. 2 seed. Much of that is due to Golden State’s wealth of playoff experience — Rockets coach Ime Udoka says he and his staff will have to do their best to neutralize that advantage. “The experience for our young guys will be new,” he hold Mark Medina of Athlon Sports. “But as far as me and my staff and what we’ve experienced, I don’t think there is a whole lot that’s going to surprise us or be different. It’s just our young guys getting experience for the first time and going through the playoff prep and all the specifics of how much more you have to dig in.”

Grizzlies Notes: Play-In, Morant, Jackson, First-Round Pick

April 16th, 2025 at 2:14pm CST by Luke Adams

The Grizzlies had a 35-16 record at the trade deadline, but finished the season on a 13-18 run and lost their first play-in game on Tuesday vs. Golden State. After falling behind by 16 points in the first half, Memphis fought its way back and trailed by just three points in the game’s final seconds, but was unable to inbound the ball on a crucial possession and was called for a five-second violation (Twitter video link via Bleacher Report).

The loss means that the Grizzlies will face a win-or-go-home game on Friday in Memphis, when they host the winner of Wednesday’s Kings/Mavericks matchup for the right to earn the No. 8 seed in the West and a first-round matchup with the 68-win Thunder.

“It’s just frustrating because of how far we fell,” Grizzlies guard Scotty Pippen Jr. said on Tuesday, per William Guillory of The Athletic. “I wouldn’t say we were confident in where we were at, but the fall has been pretty hard on the team. … It’s definitely doable, but we put ourselves in this spot.”

The Grizzlies held a top-five spot in the Western Conference standings for more than four months from November through the end of March before falling to sixth at the start of April, seventh a day later, and eighth on April 11.

Here’s more on the Grizzlies:

Star point guard Ja Morant turned his right ankle in the third quarter of Tuesday’s loss when he came down on Buddy Hield‘s foot (Twitter video link via Bleacher Report). Although he looked hobbled for the rest of the night, Morant was able to finish the game and said he fully intends to suit up on Friday, as Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal relays. “I’m playing,” Morant said. “That’s basically the answer I’m giving. It ain’t nothing different.”
Within a story about Jaren Jackson Jr.‘s emergence as an NBA star, Guillory of The Athletic notes that the big man’s increased usage rate for an injury-plagued Memphis team in 2023/24 paved the way for him to put up the best offensive season in ’24/25. “It was everything. It gave me a chance to be defended by teams in a specific way,” Jackson told Guillory. “(Opposing teams) were throwing all types of crazy coverages and schemes out there. There were a lot of things I had to learn. It presented me with a new challenge. … Usually, my job was to just get it and score. But I had to learn to set up my teammates; make sure they were involved. That was a big step for me.” An All-NBA candidate this spring, Jackson would become eligible for a super-max extension worth up to a projected $345MM over five years if he’s named to one of the three All-NBA teams.
Friday’s game will have major draft implications for the Grizzlies, who agreed in February to send their 2025 first-round pick to Washington if it lands outside of the lottery. It seemed like a safe bet at the time that the Wizards would receive that first-rounder, but if Memphis loses on Friday, the Grizzlies would keep the pick (No. 14 in the lottery standings) and Washington would instead receive a pair of second-rounders — either the Celtics’, Pacers’, Clippers’, or Heat’s 2026 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable), plus the Hawks’ 2027 second-round pick. If the Grizzlies win on Friday, the Wizards would acquire their first-round pick, which would land at either No. 18, 19, or 20, depending on the results of a Monday tiebreaker.