With two games remaining in December, the Grizzlies sit at the second-seed spot in the Western Conference standings with a 22-10 record, including a 9-3 record this month. In the Grizzlies' back-to-back two-seed seasons during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, the team picked up steam and started playing their best basketball towards the middle of November through December like this season.
Memphis is playing arguably the best of any team in the NBA right now as winners of 14 of their last 17 games since November 20th. With the tough slate of games they have coming let's look back at what their record in December has been since Ja Morant entered the league in 2019.
December 2019: 8-8
The 2019 Memphis Grizzlies team entered December with a 5-13 record on a six-game losing streak. After snapping that streak in their first December game, they continued on a skid that included losing nine of 10 games before winning four of their next five games to get back on track.
After a 6-16 start the Grizzlies flipped their record to 28-26 by the time the NBA All-Star break came around.
December 2020: 1-3
This was a COVID-19-shortened season when their first game was played on December 23rd. Their 1-3 start to this season was an early glimpse into the .500 ball the team played nearly all season before a five-game winning streak led them to a 38-34 record to end the season.
December 2021: 12-4
In arguably the franchise's best season that ended with 56 wins and a second-round playoff appearance the Grizzlies ended the month of November with an 11-10 record. A December slate that saw them win 10 out of 11 games beginning with a win to end November, and begin another streak that saw them win 11 games in a row through mid-January 2022 set the stage for the NBA's darling.
December 2022: 10-4
The 2022-23 Memphis Grizzlies mirrored a lot of what the 2021-22 team did as they entered December with a 12-9 record and began the month winning seven games in a row. After losing four of their next five games the Grizzlies tied their franchise record of 11 wins in a row similar to the season before beginning with two of those wins coming at the end of December.
December 2023: 6-9
The current Grizzlies team relates more closely to the 2021-22 team as constructed so the 2023-24 team is an outlier in this era of Grizzlies basketball. However, December did bring some optimism to a team that began the season with a 4-13 record entering December and the return of Ja Morant from suspension happening on December 19th.
After losing five games in a row, Ja Morant returned and led the Grizzlies to four straight wins before they lost their final three games of the year to finish with a losing December record.