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The 2020–21 Memphis Grizzlies season was the 26th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and 20th in Memphis. The Grizzlies qualified for the playoffs for the first time since the 2016–17 season following a victory over the Golden State Warriors in the play-in tournament. However, they lost to the Utah Jazz in five games.
| 2020–21 Memphis Grizzlies season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Taylor Jenkins |
| General manager | Jason Wexler |
| Owner(s) | Robert Pera |
| Arena | FedExForum |
| Results | |
| Record | 38–34 (.528) |
| Place | Division: 2nd (Southwest) Conference: 9th (Western) |
| Playoff finish | First Round (lost to Jazz 1–4) |
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
| Local media | |
| Television | Bally Sports South/Bally Sports Southeast[A] |
| Radio | WMFS-FM |
Draft
Summarize
Perspective
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | College/Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 40 | Robert Woodard II | SF |  United States |
Mississippi State |
Guard Desmond Bane was acquired from the Boston Celtics for two future second-round picks, after they had selected him at #30 overall.[1] He would make the All-Rookie Second Team, having averaged 9.2 points per game on 43.2% shooting from three, the latter of which led all rookies.[2]
They would also trade the rights to Robert Woodard II to Sacramento for #35 overall pick Xavier Tillman, who had played with Jaren Jackson Jr. at Michigan State.[3]
Roster
Summarize
Perspective
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Roster |
Standings
Summarize
Perspective
Division
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Conference
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Notes
- z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs
- c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs
- y – Clinched division title
- x – Clinched playoff spot
- pb – Clinched play-in spot
- o – Eliminated from playoff contention
- * – Division leader
Game log
Preseason
| 2020 preseason game log Total: 3-1; home: 1–1; road: 2–0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Preseason: 3–1 (home: 1–1; road: 2–0)
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| 2020–21 season schedule | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Regular season
Play-in
| 2021 play-in game log Total: 2–0 (home: 1–0; road: 1–0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Play-in: 2–0 (home: 1–0; road: 1–0)
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Playoffs
| 2021 playoff game log Total: 1–4 (home: 0–2; road: 1–2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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First round: 1–4 (home: 0–2; road: 1–2)
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| 2021 playoff schedule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Player statistics
Ragular season
| Player | POS | GP | GS | MP | REB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS | MPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyus Jones | PG | 70 | 9 | 1,222 | 140 | 259 | 64 | 6 | 442 | 17.5 | 2.0 | 3.7 | .9 | .1 | 6.3 |
| Kyle Anderson | PF | 69 | 69 | 1,887 | 396 | 250 | 84 | 57 | 854 | 27.3 | 5.7 | 3.6 | 1.2 | .8 | 12.4 |
| Desmond Bane | SG | 68 | 17 | 1,519 | 210 | 118 | 41 | 16 | 625 | 22.3 | 3.1 | 1.7 | .6 | .2 | 9.2 |
| Dillon Brooks | SF | 67 | 67 | 1,997 | 196 | 157 | 78 | 26 | 1,151 | 29.8 | 2.9 | 2.3 | 1.2 | .4 | 17.2 |
| Ja Morant | PG | 63 | 63 | 2,053 | 252 | 465 | 57 | 13 | 1,204 | 32.6 | 4.0 | 7.4 | .9 | .2 | 19.1 |
| Jonas Valančiūnas | C | 62 | 61 | 1,755 | 776 | 112 | 35 | 57 | 1,058 | 28.3 | 12.5 | 1.8 | .6 | .9 | 17.1 |
| Brandon Clarke | PF | 59 | 16 | 1,415 | 328 | 95 | 60 | 51 | 610 | 24.0 | 5.6 | 1.6 | 1.0 | .9 | 10.3 |
| Xavier Tillman | PF | 59 | 12 | 1,085 | 256 | 75 | 44 | 33 | 390 | 18.4 | 4.3 | 1.3 | .7 | .6 | 6.6 |
| De'Anthony Melton | PG | 52 | 1 | 1,045 | 161 | 132 | 60 | 31 | 472 | 20.1 | 3.1 | 2.5 | 1.2 | .6 | 9.1 |
| Grayson Allen | SG | 50 | 38 | 1,259 | 160 | 108 | 46 | 8 | 532 | 25.2 | 3.2 | 2.2 | .9 | .2 | 10.6 |
| John Konchar | SG | 43 | 0 | 575 | 128 | 47 | 30 | 9 | 184 | 13.4 | 3.0 | 1.1 | .7 | .2 | 4.3 |
| Justise Winslow | SF | 26 | 1 | 507 | 118 | 50 | 15 | 12 | 178 | 19.5 | 4.5 | 1.9 | .6 | .5 | 6.8 |
| Gorgui Dieng† | C | 22 | 1 | 371 | 98 | 29 | 17 | 14 | 173 | 16.9 | 4.5 | 1.3 | .8 | .6 | 7.9 |
| Frank Ntilikina† | C | 18 | 1 | 182 | 24 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 57 | 10.1 | 1.3 | .4 | .3 | .4 | 3.2 |
| Sean McDermott | SF | 18 | 0 | 158 | 19 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 39 | 8.8 | 1.1 | .2 | .1 | .2 | 2.2 |
| Jaren Jackson Jr. | C | 11 | 4 | 258 | 62 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 158 | 23.5 | 5.6 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 14.4 |
| Jontay Porter | PF | 11 | 0 | 54 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 4.9 | 1.3 | .1 | .3 | .1 | 2.0 |
| Tim Frazier | PG | 5 | 0 | 62 | 8 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 12.4 | 1.6 | 3.2 | .4 | .2 | 1.6 |
- † Denotes player spent time with another team in the season. Stats reflect time with the Grizzlies only.
Playoffs
| Player | POS | GP | GS | MP | REB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS | MPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ja Morant | PG | 5 | 5 | 203 | 24 | 41 | 2 | 0 | 151 | 40.6 | 4.8 | 8.2 | .4 | .0 | 30.2 |
| Dillon Brooks | SF | 5 | 5 | 175 | 21 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 129 | 35.0 | 4.2 | 2.2 | 1.4 | .4 | 25.8 |
| Jonas Valančiūnas | C | 5 | 5 | 166 | 49 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 75 | 33.2 | 9.8 | 2.6 | .6 | .6 | 15.0 |
| Kyle Anderson | PF | 5 | 5 | 142 | 25 | 16 | 14 | 0 | 42 | 28.4 | 5.0 | 3.2 | 2.8 | .0 | 8.4 |
| Jaren Jackson Jr. | C | 5 | 5 | 137 | 28 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 68 | 27.4 | 5.6 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 13.6 |
| Grayson Allen | SG | 5 | 0 | 116 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 32 | 23.2 | 2.6 | .2 | .4 | .2 | 6.4 |
| Desmond Bane | SG | 5 | 0 | 99 | 17 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 28 | 19.8 | 3.4 | 2.0 | .8 | .4 | 5.6 |
| De'Anthony Melton | PG | 5 | 0 | 83 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 31 | 16.6 | 3.2 | 1.0 | .2 | .8 | 6.2 |
| Tyus Jones | PG | 5 | 0 | 47 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 9.4 | 1.4 | 1.2 | .2 | .0 | 3.0 |
| Xavier Tillman | PF | 3 | 0 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6.0 | 1.0 | .3 | .3 | .0 | .7 |
| Brandon Clarke | PF | 2 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.5 | .5 | .0 | .0 | .5 | 1.0 |
| John Konchar | SG | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.0 | 1.0 | .0 | .0 | 1.0 | .0 |
| Justise Winslow | SF | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | .0 | .0 | .0 |
Transactions
Trades
| November 19, 2020[5] | To Memphis Grizzlies Draft rights to Xavier Tillman (No. 35) |
To Sacramento Kings Draft rights to Robert Woodard II (No. 40) 2022 second-round pick |
| November 20, 2020[6] | To Memphis Grizzlies Mario Hezonja (from Portland) Draft rights to Desmond Bane (No. 30) (from Boston) |
To Boston Celtics 2023 second-round pick (from Memphis) 2025 second-round pick (from Memphis) |
| To Portland Trail Blazers Enes Kanter (from Boston) Cash considerations (from Memphis) | ||
Free agency
Additions
| Player | Signed | Former team |
|---|---|---|
| Jahlil Tripp[7] | Exhibit 10 contract | Pacific Tigers |
| Sean McDermott[8] | Two-way contract | Butler Bulldogs |
| Killian Tillie[8] | Two-way contract | Gonzaga Bulldogs |
| Ahmad Caver[9] | Exhibit 10 contract | Old Dominion Monarchs |
| Zhaire Smith[10] | Exhibit 10 contract | Detroit Pistons |
| Bennie Boatwright[10] | Exhibit 10 contract | Memphis Hustle |
| Christian Vital[11] | Exhibit 10 contract |  BG Göttingen |
| Shaq Buchanan[12] | Exhibit 10 contract | Memphis Hustle |
| Tim Frazier[13][14][15] | Two 10-day contracts / Rest-of-season contract | Detroit Pistons |
| Jontay Porter | 2-year contract | Missouri Tigers |
Subtractions
| Player | Reason left | New Team |
|---|---|---|
| Mario Hezonja[9] | Waived |  Panathinaikos B.C. /  BC UNICS |
| Marko Gudurić[10] | Waived |  Fenerbahçe Beko |
| Jahlil Tripp[10] | Waived | Memphis Hustle |
| Zhaire Smith[11] | Waived | Memphis Hustle |
| Christian Vital[12] | Waived | Memphis Hustle |
| Bennie Boatwright[16] | Waived | Memphis Hustle |
| Shaq Buchanan[16] | Waived | Memphis Hustle |
| Ahmad Caver[16] | Waived | Memphis Hustle |
| Gorgui Dieng[17] | Waived | San Antonio Spurs |
Awards and records
| Player | Award | Date awarded | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desmond Bane | NBA All-Rookie Second Team | June 17, 2021 | [18] |
Notes
References
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