Memphis Grizzlies: 3 potential outcomes for the 2021-22 season

The Memphis Grizzlies impressed everybody in the NBA when they finished the season as the 8th seed in the NBA Playoffs. Nobody thought badly of the Grizzlies, but their rebuild appears to be progressing at a faster rate than anybody expected.

This puts a lot of question marks on the board for the 2021-22 season, which could go in any amount of directions. While the Grizzlies young corps is likely to drastically improve, the replacement of Jonas Valanciunas with Steven Adams could cause the team to regress.

Today, I’m going to go over the three most likely potential outcomes for the Grizzlies’ 2021-22 season.

Outcome No. 1: The Grizzlies miss the playoffs, but still hold optimism going forward

I’d like the record to show that the Grizzlies missing the NBA Playoffs in 2021-22 seems completely unlikely to me. Memphis put themselves into a position to make the play-in tournament last year without a key contributor in Jaren Jackson Jr., who just signed a big contract extension.

That said, this scenario is entirely possible.

In this case, the Grizzlies would likely fall just short of the playoffs — it’s hard to see them missing the play-in tournament entirely. Still, a loss in the play-in that sends them home early wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. After all, this is a team filled with players who are either teenagers or in their early twenties.

The possibility still exists that Ja Morant, Dillon Brooks, Jaren Jackson Jr., and others take a big step forward while the team takes a small step back. This scenario is only a one-game difference from what we witnessed last season.