The Western Conference is a bloodbath year in and year out, and is coming off a season where the eighth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies won nearly 50 games. The team that finished directly behind them in the standings was the Sacramento Kings, and they just made a major move to help them stake a claim as a contender for a playoff spot this season.
Russell Westbrook signed with the Kings on October 16th to add to their backcourt depth, which already consisted of Zach LaVine, Malik Monk, and Dennis Schroder. After finishing last season losing their play-in game at home to the Dallas Mavericks, the Kings had a relatively quiet offseason. Despite not much talk about the Kings being competitive throughout the offseason, the Grizzlies must acknowledge them as competitors for conference positioning.
The Grizzlies have to hope for some injury luck
The Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets, and Houston Rockets won the offseason as the top contenders to win the West this season. Except for the Utah Jazz, the rest of the conference is expected to believe they have a chance to battle for a playoff spot, some more than others.
The Kings were one of the teams that felt like they would be passed up by the likes of the San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers, but their signing of Westbrook proves they believe they can contend. Whether that is true or not will be proven soon, and the Grizzlies are a team in a little bit of disarray on the injury front once again.
Regardless, the Grizzlies will need their best players available to compete, and that appears to be the case with the early return of Jaren Jackson Jr. and Ja Morant expected to return to start the season. The team gained additional bad news with the lengthy injury timeline of Scotty Pippen Jr. to add to Brandon Clarke and Zach Edey's timelines, but should be able to manage in the interim.
The Grizzlies finished eight games ahead of the Kings last season, but lost the season series to them 2-1 and haven't won a game on the road at Sacramento since October 2022. Well, the Kings may have closed the gap, and the teams play four times this season. The Kings were never not a threat out West, and the Grizzlies need to treat them as such when the regular season begins in a couple of days.