The Memphis Grizzlies fired Taylor Jenkins, their winningest coach, on Friday with the team struggling down the stretch and at risk of losing home-court advantage in the postseason.
Sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania that Jenkins was called into the Grizzlies’ office Friday morning and told he was being fired. The team believed that Jenkins had lost the locker room over the course of the season and that making a change now might mitigate how the Grizzlies finish the season.
“I’m genuinely appreciative of Taylor’s contributions to this team and this city over the past six seasons,” Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman said in a statement. “This was a difficult decision, given the consistent and tangible development of our players and overall success under Taylor’s leadership. I wish Taylor the very best going forward.”
Lead assistant Tuomas Iisalo will serve as the interim head coach, sources told Charania. Iisalo is a former Finnish professional player and coach who was the head coach of Paris Basketball in 2023-24, winning the EuroCup and being named coach of the year.
The Grizzlies almost completely overhauled their coaching staff last offseason, leaving just Jenkins, Patrick St. Andrews and Anthony Carter from 2023-24. In bringing in six new assistants, the Grizzlies changed their style of play under Iisalo and Noah LaRoche to emphasize fast pace and spacing principles derived from other sports such as soccer and hockey. Memphis’ new motion offense virtually eliminated traditional NBA mainstays such as pick-and-rolls and dribble handoffs.
Sources told Charania that St. Andrews and LaRoche were also fired Friday.
Jenkins, 40, had served as Grizzlies coach since 2019-20 — the same season Ja Morant was named Rookie of the Year. The Grizzlies made three postseason appearances with Jenkins, with one playoff series win.
CoachTeamRecordYearLarry BrownNets47-29’82-83Taylor JenkinsGrizz44-29’24-25Don NelsonMavs42-22’04-05– ESPN Research
Memphis has lost four of its past five games, with Morant sidelined due to a strained hamstring, and has gone 8-11 since the All-Star break, the 21st-best record in the NBA in that span.
The Grizzlies host the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, with the teams entering with matching 44-29 records. That starts a stretch in which eight of Memphis’ final nine opponents are either playoff teams or contending for a play-in spot. It’s still possible, at least mathematically, that Memphis could get back to No. 2 in the West, and it’s highly unlikely that the Grizzlies will fall into the play-in tournament range.
Earlier this season, Jenkins passed Lionel Hollins to become the winningest coach in Grizzlies history. He leaves with a 250-214 record (.539), having also coached the most games in franchise history.
Memphis had turned things around this season after a 27-55 campaign in 2023-24 that was marred by the absence of Morant for 73 games due to injury and suspension.
The new system showed promising signs earlier in the season and has constantly evolved as the Grizzlies worked to fully carve out an offensive identity ahead of the playoffs. Defensively, however, Memphis has struggled since the All-Star break, ranking 20th in defensive efficiency after holding the No. 7 spot over the first half of the season, according to ESPN Research.
Also, most of the success this season had been against teams with losing records. Against the 13 other teams that currently are over .500, the Grizzlies are 11-20 and getting outscored by 77 points. Against the 16 clubs at .500 or worse, the Grizzlies are 33-9, outscoring those opponents by 462 points.
Jenkins signed a multiyear contract extension with the Grizzlies in June 2022. He previously worked as an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks (2013-18) and Milwaukee Bucks (2018-19). He had been the fifth-longest-tenured coach with his current club in the league, behind only San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, Miami’s Erik Spoelstra, Golden State’s Steve Kerr and Denver’s Michael Malone — all of them having won NBA titles.
ESPN’s Michael C. Wright, The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.
