Grizzlies’ Ja Morant on Taylor Jenkins dismissal: ‘It’s tough for me’
The decision to fire ex-coach Taylor Jenkins with nine games left in the season shocked the entire NBA. That included the Grizzlies themselves.
For starters, power forward Jaren Jackson Jr. said he thought his friends had been trolled by social media account NBA Cental, which has become renowned for its funny dose of fake hoops news.
Star point guard Ja Morant was equally impacted.
“It’s tough for me, I’ve had Coach Taylor since I got here,” Morant said after Saturday’s home loss to the Lakers, via Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “Everything I’ve done in a Grizzlies jersey has been under him. It’s my first time really experiencing a coach leaving since I’ve been hooping.
“It was a lot to process. We had to quickly turn the page to the Lakers, and that’s just the business part of the NBA.”
Jackson admitted he, too, was a little bit stunned.
“That’s my dog. That will forever be my dog,” he said. “It was surprising. It would have been surprising at any point. He had a great impact while he was here. He’s gonna be one of the more sought-after coaches in his journey elsewhere and deservedly so.”
Memphis (44-30) sits in fifth place in the Western Conference standings following the loss to the Lakers (45-29), who are actually two games ahead — as they also own the tiebreaker. If the playoffs started today, the Grizzlies would face Los Angeles in the first round, with LA owning home-court advantage.
Grizzlies GM Zach Kleiman offered no real explanation on why Jenkins was fired after six seasons — and at the time, with just nine regular-season games to go. Kleiman added that the players had not been consulted before the decision on Jenkins.
“I was in the bed,” Morant said. “My people called and they was like ‘did you see the internet’, I thought somebody said something about me again. I seen it and I was shocked, I texted (Jaren Jackson Jr.) and that’s all.”
Morant has spent his full Grizzlies career under Jenkins and went into more detail on how tough it is on him.
“I mean it’s tough for me, you know I had Coach Taylor since I got here,” Morant said. “Everything I’ve done in a Grizzlies jersey has pretty much been under him, so that’s always tough. It’s my first time really experiencing a coach leaving since I’ve really been hooping so, it was a lot to process, but with the timing, it’s just tough.
“We had to quickly turn the page to the Lakers, and you know that’s just the tough part and business part of the NBA.”
Morant and the Grizzlies will be back in action on Monday when they play the Boston Celtics.
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