With the 2024-2025 NBA season looming in the distance, teams will be looking to solidify their starting rotations to start off on a strong note.
After a completely disastrous 2023-2024 campaign saw the Memphis Grizzlies be forced to utilize a league record-setting 50 (!) different starting lineups, the club will begin this season mercifully with their standard five-man unit back in place.
With the projected lineup for Memphis having Ja Morant and Marcus Smart in the backcourt and Desmond Bane, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Zach Edey in the frontcourt, there will be a plethora of young talent waiting on the bench.
At the same time, there is a reasonable assumption that with the variety of matchups the Grizzlies will face in the upcoming season, there will be changes made by Taylor Jenkins and the coaching staff to best prepare the club for the teams they will find themselves going up against.
Players who could be surprise starters for the Memphis Grizzlies
With a fairly obvious starting five solidified, Memphis will have a variety of approach options to take when best trying to match up across the league and especially within their own brutal Western Conference.
Despite last season's woes, there is a silver lining -- many of the younger players have found essential floor time that, when analyzed, can best place them in a potential bench unit midgame or even as a piece of the starting unit.
While key pieces to the team's offensive and defensive engines such as Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. will likely remain staple starters for the upcoming season, there is potential for flexibility in which players will supplement them.
With intriguing young talents combined with more seasoned players on the team, Memphis will be able to shift pieces around where they can best capitalize on their strengths. As a result of this, there are a few players who, periodically throughout the upcoming season, could find themselves running in the starting rotation.