Memphis Grizzlies fire coach Taylor Jenkins, with 9 regular season games on the left

On Friday, Memphis’ Grizzlies dismissed Taylor Jenkins, from the most winning coach of the franchise with only nine games to do in the regular season.

Jenkins will be replaced on a provisional basis by the Finnish assistant Tuomas Iisalo, according to a league source knowing the situation. The Grizzlies also rejected Jenkins assistants, Noah Laroche and Patrick St. Andrews, said a league source.

Memphis has a sheet of 44-29 and tied with the Lakers for fourth in the Western Conference, but is only 2.5 games in seventh place. Grizzlies have lost four of the five and 11 out of 19 since the stars break. In a press release, the director general of the Grizzlies, Zach Kleiman, did not detail why Memphis made the change, but thanked Jenkins for his six seasons in charge. Kleiman could contact the media on Saturday, said a league source.

The dismissal is a surprise given the calendar, but several sources of the league expected MEMPHIS to bring changes to this offset due to the growing dissatisfaction between Jenkins and the players, discomfort among its assistants and different visions between Jenkins and the front office on how to play.

THE @memgrizz Today announced that they had separated with head coach Taylor Jenkins. pic.twitter.com/92pak2nssn

– Grizzlies Pr (@grizzliespr) March 28, 2025

According to the sources of the League, Jenkins’ misfortune with leadership franchise last summer dates when he was ordered to reject most of his coach staff after a miserable season of 27-55 during which two of the team stars – JA MORANT and DESMOND BANE – missed 113 combined games.

Sources of the League said that Jenkins thought at the time that he would also be released. Instead, Memphis took a good start this season, delaying the transaction that took place on Friday. In the meantime, speculation that more could be exchanged increased to the point that Kleinman issued a strong refusal of the rumor in February.

By entering this season, Jenkins detailed a daring plan so that Memphis plays at a broken speed, in the hope of taking advantage of the athletics of their nucleus of Morant, Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr., but the new offensive program – brought in part by Iisalo, who was previously coach of Paris basketball, where he won the coach of the year in the second division of the year Europe – came with frustrations.

On several occasions, Morant has been seen arguing with Jenkins on the sidelines of rotations, substitution models and offensive game calls. A source of the league said that if some of the new offensive concepts introduced in the training camp came from Iisalo, the details of the understanding of passing and cutting instead of adjusting the screens come from Laroche.

Iisalo, 42, had no experience of the NBA before joining Jenkins staff. He appreciated a 14 -year -old career in Finland before becoming a coach, first in his country of origin, then in Germany and France. He was coach twice of the year in the Pro-German League, and last season, he led Paris to a promotion of Eurocup at the Euroleague, the first division of the continent for professional basketball.

The 25-year-old Domieous is an All-Star twice and was All-NBA in 2021-222, but saw his figures slide this season. It has an average of 22.3 points out of 44.9% shot in the field, its lowest number since 2020-21. His 3.7 reversals per match are a career summit despite the average for the average minutes of his career. At the time of Jenkins dismissal, MORANT was also injured again, missing the last six games with a tension at the left ischioshum.

Grizzlies have once again treated injuries to key players this season – MORANT only appeared in 43 games, and the grizzlyats are 28-15 years old when he plays. They were second place in the western western two weeks ago, but were pounded at home by Cleveland and have been in a tailpin since without a mixture.

Memphis has 2½ games in front of the Clippers and Golden State Warriors, who are tied for sixth place. The seventh teams in 10th place must make their way through the playoffs via the game tournament, which the grizzly guys want to avoid with just over two weeks to play in the season.

Grizzlies made the playoffs three times under Jenkins, including consecutive seasons of 50 victories in 2021-2022 and 2022-23. Jenkins, 40, posted a record of 250-214 in the regular season, but was 9-14 years old in the playoffs. He finished finalist for the NBA coach during the 2021-22 season.

Before receiving his first NBA head coach position in Memphis, Jenkins was a assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks for a season and the Atlanta Hawks for five seasons.

If the Spurs had to hire a full -time coach to replace Gregg Popovich, who missed most of this season due to a stroke, Jenkins would instantly become a leading candidate, league sources said.

(Photo: SOOBUM IM / Getty Images)