With the unfortunate news revealing that superstar Ja Morant will miss the remainder of the 2023-24 season as he opts to undergo surgery on his right shoulder, it is now widely believed that the Memphis Grizzlies could go on to punt on the year and focus their attention on developing their younger players and begin planning for 2024-25.
Considering they are just 13-23 on the year, 7-20 without the guard in the lineup, and reside all the way down in the 13 seed in the Western Conference standings, such a concept shouldn't be all that hard to envision.
However, there are still some out there who believe Taylor Jenkins and company should hold off from waiving the white flag for the time being, with Locked on Grizzlies host and Commercial Appeal reporter Damichael Cole suggesting that a decision must not be made until they see how their next few games play out.
Reporter dishes on what Grizzlies mentality should be sans Ja Morant
"The Grizzlies' last game without Ja was their best game without Ja and I think you should see what happens. If you struggle [and] you look like that team through the first 25 games then it is what it is, you throw in the towel, but if you look improved, ok, we still can go chase this play-in thing. That should be your mentality"Damichael Cole on Grizzlies
Cole would continue on to note that there are bound to be a bevy of players who will still actively be trying to help guide this Grizzlies team toward a top-10 seed in the standings, stating that "Marcus Smart, who never missed the playoffs in his career, I know he's not about to throw in the towel," "Derrick Rose, who only has so many seasons left, hates despises losing," and that "Desmond Bane isn't about to throw in the towel."
With this, Cole feels confident that these aforementioned individuals are not going to allow a tank mentality to "fixate through this locker room," and believes that, as a collective, Memphis isn't yet ready to "pack it in yet."
With this in mind, it seems apparent that the outcome of this upcoming stretch of games against the Dallas Mavericks, LA Clippers, New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, and Minnesota Timberwolves will wind up having a significant impact on what the ball club's focus will be for the rest of the season.