The 2024-25 Memphis Grizzlies media day is approaching soon, meaning training camp and preseason are right behind. As the Grizzlies prepare to right the wrongs of a lost season, there is a sense of excitement about the team’s depth that hasn’t been present since the first 50-win and 2-seed 2021-22 squad.
The injury-riddled 2023-24 season brought out some unexpected positives, both on the roster and with the lottery draft pick that came because of the tumultuous season. With that said, if the Grizzlies want to return to their back-to-back 50-win and 2-seed form, the impact of these players will be the key to Western Conference contention:
3. Zach Edey
The 7’4” number 9 pick from Purdue is expected to immediately step into the starting center role for a team that severely lacked at that position throughout the last season and a half. The Grizzlies were one of the best rebounding teams in the NBA (top 5 every season from 2019-2023) when Jonas Valanciunas and Steven Adams were the starting centers for the team.
Without the services of Steven Adams and backup frontcourt mate Brandon Clarke for most of last season and the second half of the 2022-23 season, the Grizzlies fell to the bottom half of the league in rebounds per game.
Jaren Jackson Jr. was forced to play a lot of minutes at center last season and while that works for the team in spurts, it is not the position that is best suited for him to play the majority of his minutes and expect the Grizzlies to succeed. In comes Zach Edey who averaged 12.9 and 12.2 rebounds over his last two college seasons, in which he won back-to-back player of the year.
Edey’s impact will determine a lot for this team considering he is the only true center currently on the active roster. The group behind includes power forward/undersized center Brandon Clarke, combo forward Santi Aldama, and two-way contract center Jay Huff. The pressure is warranted because Edey has been favored to win Rookie of the Year by multiple sportsbooks and league executives.
2. GG Jackson
This might be a surprise considering GG Jackson hasn’t even turned 20 years old yet and won’t until December. Also, GG Jackson just underwent a procedure to repair a broken fifth metatarsal in his right foot on September 4th and will be reevaluated in three months, which means he is expected to miss the first month and a half of the season.
However, the talent of GG Jackson can’t be denied and his getting an opportunity to play with the full roster set is intriguing for a team that is expected to compete in the upper echelon of the Western Conference. The time he will miss to begin the season stings but he is expected to be back fairly early in this long NBA season.
Going into last season, the Memphis Grizzlies had a huge question mark about who their wings of the future would be. As the trade of Marcus Smart loomed and provided the Grizzlies with a three-guard starting lineup, the search for wing depth/eventual starter became a bigger question.
The Grizzlies spent multiple first-round draft picks on Ziaire Williams, Jake LaRavia, and David Roddy in the 2021 and 2022 drafts and second-round draft picks on Vince Williams Jr. and GG Jackson in the 2022 and 2023 drafts, respectively. Opportunity was provided more extensively for all of these players due to last season's injuries and GG was one of the standouts (along with Vince Williams Jr. and Jake LaRavia) who answered the future wing question for the Grizzlies.
So why is GG in the top 3 of the most important players? He has the highest ceiling of the group with his scoring ability. The Grizzlies haven’t had a wing with his level of scoring ability from all three levels since Rudy Gay and in a league where the most recent champion has two of the best players at those positions (Boston Celtics with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown), his importance is justified.
GG Jackson won’t be asked to be the leading scorer as his role will likely be as a bench scorer but his development in that phase and as a defender could be the difference between the Grizzlies being a play-in or first/second round exit and a legit Western Conference finalist and NBA championship contender this season.
1. Ja Morant
The most obvious choice is one of the best players in the NBA, although it feels like the NBA world has forgotten about him. Ja Morant’s 25-game suspension followed by his season-ending injury with a torn labrum set off the events of last season.
The team was in complete disarray without him in those first 25 games as evidenced by their 6-19 record in that span. In the 9 games he suited up, the team won the same number of games with a 6-3 record, including his game-winning buzzer-beating layup in his first game back in New Orleans against the Pelicans.
Ja Morant is a superstar and is ready to show the league that he is back and better than ever both on and off the court. Health is the biggest question for Ja as injuries have ended his season in two of the past three seasons and he missed game 2 of their 2023 first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers because of injury as well.
This one was simple, Ja Morant is the best player on the team and despite some success in games he missed in the 2021-22 season, their record is 32-62 without him the past two seasons. When he’s on the court the Grizzlies are one of the league’s best and because of that the Grizzlies are expected to contend this season.