The NBA announced its slate of Christmas Day games and sadly, it’s another year without the Memphis Grizzlies featured in a game.
The Memphis Grizzlies are one of only two teams to have never played a game on Christmas.
That’s right. Year after year, when the NBA schedule is announced, the Grizzlies are nowhere to be found on the schedule for Christmas Day.
In previous years, it’s been understandable to not see the Grizzlies during one of the most high-profile days of the NBA calendar. The team has had its fair share of losing seasons and years with no all-star selections. Millions of people tune in to watch the best the NBA has to offer while exchanging gifts, eating great food, and spending time with loved ones.
But this was the year that many fans thought could be the year the team finally gets an invite to play under the bright lights. Grizzlies play-by-play announcer Pete Pranica seemed to think there was a chance the team could be playing on Christmas Day.
— Pete Pranica (@PetePranica) August 17, 2021
Heck, it wasn’t even just fans that thought this was the year— even superstar Ja Morant thought this could be the year the team gets a coveted Christmas Day game. Morant promised he is going to get the team in a Christmas Day game… one day.
https://twitter.com/JaMorant/status/1427716813245140994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The Grizzlies are coming off another year of exceeding expectations, which included besting the Golden State Warriors in a do-or-die play-in game to actually make the playoffs. Fans around the country tuned in to watch Morant and Steph Curry fight for the right to play the No. 1 seed Utah Jazz.
The Grizzlies, of course, won the game and even went on to upset the Jazz in Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs— which shocked the ESPN audience of more than 3.6 million viewers, according to data from Nielsen ratings.
Excluding the Grizzlies from a Christmas Day game is also surprising when you consider the fact that Ja Morant had one of the top-selling jerseys in the NBA for the second half of the season, according to a press release from the NBA announcing the top 15 player jerseys sold between March 11 through July 13.
This should tell you that Morant is a bankable star. His popularity transcends beyond Memphis. Fans around the world are buying his #12 jersey at a breakneck pace. Not to mention that Morant is an electrifying player that has gone viral multiple times for nearly jumping over players and dunking on them in regular-season games.
If you look at the list of teams playing on Christmas, nine out of 10 were playoff teams last year. The Grizzlies meet that criteria.
11 of the top 15 jerseys sold in the second half of the season are playing on Christmas. Ja Morant had the 14th best-selling jersey during that time period, according to a release from the NBA in July.
So what gives? Why do the Memphis Grizzlies continue to miss out on the Christmas Day festivities?
We may never get an answer from the NBA, but being excluded from a Christmas Day game is just another item on the long list of things players on this team are tracking. The team is used to be overlooked, undervalued, and not taken seriously by anyone of notoriety. The Grizzlies are used to having doubters and nay-sayers.
Just ask the team about:
- Ja Morant’s all-star snub last season
- Ja Morant’s Team USA Basketball snub
- Dillion Brooks not being named to an All-NBA Defensive Team
- Kyle Anderson receiving only two third-place votes for the NBA’s most improved player of the year.
- Veteran players openly stating they refuse to play for the team (looking at you, Andre Iguodala)
Ever since Morant arrived in Memphis, the Grizzlies have assumed the mentality of its leader and played with a chip on their shoulder. This season won’t be any different, but don’t think Morant and company will forget— they’re keeping the receipts and the receipts are CVS-sized behemoths.