The first-round series between Oklahoma City and Memphis has been fairly routine, with the league-leading Thunder taking a 3-0 lead over the Western Conference's No. 8 seed. But this matchup's been a particularly deflating reminder of all the Grizzlies have lost.
Memphis is getting a close-up look at a team that is everything the Grizzlies were supposed to be but never will.
Before we dive into a premature postmortem, it should be noted that Ja Morant's Game 3 hip injury obviously changed the tenor of that contest. But the ultimate result of this series was inevitable, and the fact Memphis blew a 29-point lead at home - with or without Morant - only reinforces that.
That says as much about the juggernaut facing the Grizzlies as it does about Memphis. This Thunder squad became the seventh team ever to win 68 games in a season and racked up the best point differential in NBA history. The club's methodical rebuild has seen it rise, step by step, from a 58-loss club in 2022 to a play-in contestant in 2023, to the youngest No. 1 seed and series winner in league history in 2024, to championship favorite in 2025, all while hoarding a treasure trove of draft capital.
The Grizzlies were the toast of the NBA during OKC's 24-58 campaign three years ago. Memphis won 56 games with the league's fourth-youngest roster in 2021-22. Morant was tabbed as a future face of the league, and who could argue? He was an audacious, relentless, fearless high-flyer who was already driving the type of team success even superstars often wait years to enjoy. "I'm fine in the West," Morant famously proclaimed later in 2022, confidently projecting conference dominance.
His two costars, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane, gave the Grizzlies the Association's most promising big three of the time, while then-head coach Taylor Jenkins was making a habit of overachieving.
Much has unfolded in the three years since, but the short version goes something like this: Morant spent too much time on the shelf due to injuries and suspensions related to social media gun play. The Grizzlies as a whole have been derailed by an almost unfathomable number of injuries. Former glue guy and habitual line-stepper Dillon Brooks was scapegoated and eventually bolted to a division rival (Houston, which has since leapfrogged Memphis). Tone-setting veterans like Steven Adams are long gone. Philosophical differences between Jenkins and general manager Zach Kleiman led to Jenkins' dismissal a few weeks before the 2025 playoffs began, with assistant Tuomas Iisalo taking over despite the fact Jenkins had the banged-up squad sitting fifth in the unforgiving West.
And just like that, a prodigious team that appeared destined for years of progress and triumphs now looks to be fading out, having peaked with a hard-fought second-round series in 2022 against the eventual champion Warriors.
You could argue the Grizzlies are a cautionary tale for the Thunder, especially in the apron era, when many contenders will rise and fall faster than before. But that's not the story of this matchup, which was so perfectly encapsulated in Memphis' Game 3 collapse.
Oklahoma City's secondary stars, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, overwhelmed the Grizzlies in the second half while Bane and Jackson struggled to make their presence felt. Veteran addition Alex Caruso wreaked havoc on the defensive end, flummoxing a team without its best player or an identity. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - the MVP front-runner who'd yet to make an All-Star team when Morant was spearheading the 56-win Grizzlies - logged a game-high 40 minutes. Morant, forced to leave in the second quarter after a scary fall, logged 15.
In a parallel universe, this meeting of the postseason's two youngest squads could've been a preview of many playoff battles to come for Western Conference supremacy. Instead, we're seeing two teams headed in opposite directions.
The Thunder's star trio and an incredibly impressive supporting cast will continue their quest to become the youngest champions in NBA history. The Grizzlies will dissect all the ways they've fallen short over the last three years, and consider the possibility of breaking up their own trio.
If Iisalo is the right man for the job in Memphis, he'll likely have to prove it with a different version of the Grizzlies. Whatever that team looks like, Memphis can only hope it's half as good or as promising as the team that's usurped its destiny atop the West.
Joseph Casciaro is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA reporter.
