The Memphis Grizzlies may have come into the 2023-24 season with rather high aspirations but, through 13 games, it's evident that they've produced more like a lottery team than a title contender.
Boasting a mere record of 3-10, Taylor Jenkins' squad is currently tied for the second-worst mark in the entire association and currently ranks in as the 13 seed in the Western Conference standings.
Of course, the main catalyst in their lowly start to the year has been the bevy of absences from key players, with guys like Ja Morant (suspension) and Brandon Clarke (Achilles) slated to miss a large portion of the season and Steven Adams (knee) being deemed out for the entirety of it.
This lack of attendance has not just stopped at these aforementioned talents, however, as recently several others such as Marcus Smart, Luke Kennard, and Xavier Tillman were added to the club's injury report and are now expected to be donning street clothes for the immediate future.
While there is still a popular belief that the Grizzlies can find a way to turn things around and thrust themselves back into the playoff conversation at some point between now and year's end, during a recent appearance on FanDuel's Run it Back, legendary sixth man extraordinaire Lou Williams dropped a harrowing two-word take on the fate of the franchise.
Lou Williams dishes grueling analysis on Memphis Grizzlies season
"They're cooked. It's bad, I just wrote it down. I'm sitting here looking, you got [Oklahoma City], you got the [Clippers], you got the Lakers, you got the Suns, you got Denver, you got Dallas. Those are teams that are in the Western Conference, so that's another 25-30 games on your schedule that you gotta see these particular teams and, without your star player out there...at least for another month, Marcus Smart just going out for a month or so, this is going to be tough for this team to right this ship. I think they're in bad shape."Lou Williams on Grizzlies
Perhaps one of the lone saving graces for this Grizzlies team as of late has been that following their 0-6 start to the season they've put together a 3-4 record and, aside from a blow-out loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on November 14, have kept their bouts rather competitive as they sport a point differential of just -7 whilst dealing with a slew of injuries and being without their franchise cornerstone in Morant.
Podcast co-host Chandler Parsons would sing a much different tune compared to Williams' take, stating that "they only got to beat out five other teams to get to the play-in and then they're fully loaded with Ja Morant, I'm not counting them out just yet."
That said, seeing how poorly they've faired to this point, it's easy to see why the three-time Sixth Man of the Year is so low on these Grizzlies.