The Memphis Grizzlies are set to make the playoffs in a few weeks. The Grizzles own a 44-29 record, good enough to be tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference.
However, nothing is certain in the competitive West. The Grizzlies only have a 2.5-game lead over the seventh-place Golden State Warriors, who would be the highest seed for the Play-In Tournament.
NBA News: Memphis Grizzlies fired their head coach
Following the Grizzlies’ 125-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night in front of 18,203 fans at the Paycom Center, Memphis chose to fire head coach Taylor Jenkins, per a statement released by the team’s PR on X.
“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.”
The @memgrizz today announced they have parted ways with head coach Taylor Jenkins. pic.twitter.com/92PAK2NssN
— Grizzlies PR (@GrizzliesPR) March 28, 2025
The Grizzlies hired Jenkins in 2019. He went 206-185 with Memphis, making the playoffs three times in his first five seasons and reaching as far as the Western Conference semifinals in 2022.
Fans react to Taylor Jenkins firing
The situation to outsiders might be surprising, as the Grizzlies postseason hopes are very much alive. However, many Memphis fans were overjoyed at the news, thinking that it’s the teams best chance to beat OKC in the playoffs.
“He often made very questionable late game adjustments, for example last night he subbed in Santi Aldama for Jaren Jackson Jr then the Thunder blew the game wide open and took way too long to get Jaren back in the game,” wrote a fan answering a question as to why the fan base was ready for Taylor to go.
So god is real,” posted a fan who liked the move.
“Do you think they might start playing their best players the most minutes now,” asked a fan sarcastically.
Other fans questioned the timing of the move.
“Whether they liked his coaching ability or not, whether they thought they had the chance of making a deep run or not … the timing of this is AWFUL at best Why? Why now,” asked another.
“Team overachieves and they fire their coach 2 weeks before the playoffs,” asked a fan.
“Not sure how to feel. We’ve been stagnant the past couple seasons, but Jenkins always fights for his guys every night, they must have a coach in there that they believe can uplift them or they are phoning in the season. Wish Jenkins nothing but the best, kind of a shock though,” wrote a fan.
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