Zion Williamson trade idea for Memphis Grizzlies, latest Ja Morant injury update

Zion Williamson trade idea for Memphis Grizzlies, latest Ja Morant injury update

I have a theory and the theory is I have figured out a way to truly tell whether or not you believe the Memphis Grizzlies as presently constructed can be good this season. All it would cost is one little itty bitty teeny weeny tiny whiny Zion Williamson. Let’s lock in on this Friday edition of Lockdown Grizzlies. Let’s get Zion to Michael. You are Locked On Grizzlies, your daily Memphis Grizzlies podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. It is Friday. Friday. You have got to get down on this Friday edition of Lockdown Grizzlies. The wise philosopher Rebecca Black once said, “Fun, fun, fun, fun. Looking forward to the weekend.” We are partying, partying here on Locked on Grizzlies. It is I, Joe Mullenax, one of your hosts, senior contributor over at Bee Street Bears, writer over at the Grizzly Bear Blue Substack. And I am joined by the incomparable, the tremendously talented, the probably jealous that he does not have snow where he is. I have snow. I have a snow day. It’s wonderful. I’m excited. The energy is good to Michael Cole, Memphis Grizzly Beat Writer for the Commercial Appeal, but the energy would be good whether or not there was snow because we are together on this Friday edition of the show. How are you, sir? I’m I’m doing wonderful. It is Friday, Joe. We got to get down on Friday. We We’re definitely gonna get down today. So, absolutely. Yes, we’re coming in hot to start off the program. And there’s no other way to come. No other way to do it. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanduel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. We are free and available wherever you get podcasts as proud members of the Locked Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcasting network out there. Thank you so much for helping us be a small part of that success. Make sure you’re liking, commenting, rating, reviewing, subscribing. Wherever you get podcasts, Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Google, YouTube, literally anywhere you can watch or listen to Michael and myself, make sure you’re doing so. Become an everydayer and hang out with us each and every time that an episode drops because you will get hashtagcontent like I have to start off the show today. Deich, I have a tendency to blow up Grizzlies Twitter every once in a while and I did it again. Oops, I did it again. Britney Spears style Zion Williamson coming to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for John Contra contavius Cwell Pope Brandon Clark in the 2026 first round pick from the Memphis Grizzlies unprotected the Michael Cole. Now, you might be sitting there, dear listener, dear viewer, and you might be thinking, why in the world, the arms, why would the Michael Cole let his beloved co-host Joe Molenax both drink and smoke before he hosts a podcast of Locked On Grizz? That is extremely irresponsible. Michael supposed to be the logical one. But nay, I have never been more clear of mind and clear of heart and clear of spirit as I sit here before you and I ask a simple question to you to Michael Cole before we get started because I know we disagree very rarely. Very rarely. You disagree vehemently with this but I have a simple question for you to Michael Cole. Yep. Do you believe that the Memphis Grizzlies as presently constructed can be a good basketball team? Yeah, they can be a good basketball team. They can be a good basketball team. Okay. And in the National Basketball Association, especially for a small market team, what is the best way to acquire elite talent? Are they approaching trade for them? See, you have to trade for them or draft or draft. Draft or draft, one of the two. Okay, we’re on the same page to this point. Yep. Reports have surfaced that Zion Williamson could likely be had. I believe the quote a dip in Dodson. I want to make sure I give him credit. Dodson does a great job covering Pelicans. he’s in that area. Um, others have talked about this as well. The idea of Zion Williamson being available for a halfway decent deal. Okay. To me, that first round pick is what makes what I just suggested a halfway decent deal because the New Orleans Pelicans infamously do not have a first round pick after the Derek Queen trade, uh, all that stuff that happened over this past summer in the 2025 NBA draft. So, what am I suggesting? I am simply suggesting to Michael Cole the opportunity for the Memphis Grizzlies as presently constructed because I don’t think anybody would make a legitimate argument that John Karavius Cwell Pope and Brandon Clark are significant to use your words from a recent episode significant enough to the current Memphis Grizzly setup to disrupt that core of good basketball that you allegedly believe in. and you bring in an allNBA talent in the case of Zion Williamson for a low ball offer. Now, as part of this thought exercise, I want to stress I am not offering New Orleans a single thing more than what I said. This is not a negotiation. I call New Orleans and I say this is what I am offering to you. Is this the best offer? No, I’m acknowledging that. You want to move off of Zion. You are tired of this era. And the Memphis Grizzlies have a John Morant who is maybe not disgruntled but is certainly uh embattled. Maybe that’s the fairest way to put it as a member of the Grizzlies at the moment. You have a Jiren Jackson Jr. who is struggling. You have this money tied up in these players. And if you believe in this core to Michael Cole, doesn’t it make sense to add the best possible talent you can for the smallest amount of cost? There’s a high level of risk. I’m not saying that there isn’t in this theoretic. You think so? A high level of risk, but the reward is a much higher ceiling for the Memphis Grizzlies. I personally Yep. do this trade in an instant. You disagree. Why? My mom might be listening right now. Mom, don’t don’t get don’t podcast. Don’t get Mom. Look, you you know my heart, but hell no. Absolutely not, Joe. The when you when you told me about this trade, the first thing that I thought I was joking. You thought I was kidding. The first thing that stood out to me was Okay, there’s Jiren. No, no Jiren’s in this. No, no, no other like it’s Brandon Clark, Kavius Cwell Pope, and I think John Kar is what you said. So, theoretically, the names the names for Zion Williamson make a lot of sense, but I have stood on this ever since I’ve started covering this team. Ever since I’ve been introduced to the game of basketball and learned a lot about it, I am real big on the idea of game over name. And you’re putting me in one of those positions again because Zion Williamson, add him to a good team in theory sounds really good. But if you got Zakit, Zakit is the center. Point blank period. Zack Edant member of the organization. Zack Edy is the center. According to you, he’s the most significant Memphis Grizzly. That’s right. I said it. So, Zack Edy is the center. You got Jiren Jackson Jr., then you got Zion Williamson. Both of them are starters. Who in the world is playing Small Ford? I don’t want either one of them playing Small Ford on my team. You’re very smart. Who’s Who’s playing Small Fort? Tell me. You are smarter than me. You’ve watched Jiren Jackson Jr. play a lot of basketball. I have. Would you say that Jiren Jackson Jr. plays more like a four or a three offensively? No, he plays like a four. He He He doesn’t play like an old He doesn’t play like a old school. If you watch his game, he’s not a four. He is an offensive. He wants to be a guard more than I want to be a six-pack member of the Magic Mike reunions uh cast. All right, that is 100% what Jiren would love to be. except without the passing. He wants to be Carmelo Anthony. He wants he doesn’t have the rebounding. That’s the kind of four he wants to be. But Carmemelllo Anthony also thought he was a three. This is my thing. It literally was just talking to was it Zack Edy, I think, or Vince, no, Vince Williams Jr. uh at practice yesterday about this like and it came up in passing because we were talking about like how you can kind of maximize players around you and things like that. And he we weren’t even talking about Jiren Jackson Jr. He just mentioned like well you know Jiren loves his spacing so you know it’s just trying to you know create that space for him. If you put a starting lineup you put Zion Williamson in this starting lineup the spacing for Jiren is gone. You eliminate you eliminate that. You eliminate that. And why? Because elite three-point shooters Jun and uh and Cedric has nothing to do with Vince J. I’m glad that you brought that up because that’s my other point. Jaylen Wells and Cedric Coward are your two guys. If if you want to have the conversation with me about potentially upgrading the Jaylen Wells spot at some point, we can get into that, but but the way that Jayen Wells has played as of late, that’s a prototypical guy who can start for me as a 3 and D2 guard on my team. Uh you got Jaylen Wells, not taking him out of the starting lineup. You got Cedric Coward, definitely not taking him out of the starting lineup. You got your two wings. What’s the point of moving Jiren or Zion to the wing? And then my last point, Joe, and this is where I try, this is where I’m going to try to convince you, Joe, because this is you. This is you that I’m about to say. This is you, Joe. You’re cashing your chips in for Zion Williamson. What chips? And these are the I’m glad that you asked that question. The Grizzlies right now. You love John Kar so much. He’s the best player in this trade. This isn’t about This isn’t about He’s the best player in this trade. when the Grizzlies acquired orange chicken and white rice John Kar is the best player leaving the Memphis Grizzlies in this transaction that is theoretical stop that stop that you’re stop that you you know you know that’s not what I’m saying but here’s where here’s where I’m going with this one of the underrated things about this Grizzlies off season that just passed is they set themselves up much better to go get that big fish in the future without moving off of one of those top two contracts uh the contavius Cwell Pope move signing Santi Alama to, you know, a three-year deal. What 16 17 million a year? That’s a good contract. We know about Brandon Clark’s contract, which you’re putting in there. Like going last season, they didn’t have a lot of contracts to kind of dangle potentially in these bigger deals after they moved Marcus Smart. But they put themselves in a better position to, hey, let’s match two or three contracts to get a contract like Zion Williams. So, you only get one chance to do this. And considering that you already have two wings, I think the position, if you want to talk about upgrading, it might it might be one of those other spots. It ain’t it ain’t the shooting guard, small forward spots right now, and it ain’t center. So, the point that I’m making is no way. And then the injury concerns, I don’t even have to get into all the the concerns about Zion Williams. Like we we come in this every season talking about the problems with the injuries, injuries to injuries. And you’re talking about a guy who is out right now, just had another injury who’s an allNBA talent years ago, has the capacity to play this game of basketball at an extremely high level. And oh by the way, and I want to make sure I shout out correctly here. Yeah. Uh at more underscored than looks, Zebo game 6 2011 on X. He called me out a little bit. He figured out part of this. Yeah, Zion’s contract has a non-G guarantee in it due to injury clause. So, if it doesn’t work out, you could very easily move on from Zion. So, that is that is part of me cheating a little bit in this thought exercise. But here is why I suggest this question and we can move on because this isn’t going to happen. I want to stress that this is literally me just enjoying watching the world burn on random days. That’s exactly what you’re doing. That’s exactly what you’re doing. Here’s the point of my thought process. You yourself say that Zack Edi is the most significant member of the Memphis Grizzlies. You yourself have said Cedric Coward is the second most significant member of the Memphis Grizzlies right now. And you have number three and number four that make in fairness to Jiren. The extension hasn’t fully kicked in yet, but currently over $50 million between these two players, if not a little bit more than that, and they are not actually being significant players. So, I am trying to create a spark. I am trying to say, “Hey, are you competing up? Let’s bring back an oldie but a goodie. Are you trying to win a championship or not?” You want to create a spark. You go after Kawhi Leonard. You go you want to create a spark. You go after Giannis and Tennoc. I’m not creating no spark going after Zion Williams. We can replace championship with playoffs or not. And the point of the exercise to Michael is the names that you just listed are not realistically obtainable. The Memphis Grizzlies, unless Memphis International has recently added a direct flight to Athens, Greece, I’m fairly confident, having been in that airport a time or two, that’s not occurring. That’s not an option. Kawhi Leonard, unless we’re planting a bunch of trees in Memphis. I mean, Shelby Farms is beautiful, but unless we’re planting a bunch of trees in and around FedEx Forum, Kawawaii’s not coming to Memphis. Zion is the best realistic name that could potentially be had. And all I’m asking is how good do you think the current Grizzlies are? Let us know in the comments. Hit me up on X atomx. Hit up to Michael C. That’s to Michael Cole. How good do you think they are? Because it’s hard to argue that losing Contavius Cowwell Pope, John Konchar, and Brandon Clark. In exchanging all of that for an allNBA talent, it’s hard to argue it wouldn’t make the Grizzlies better. I like to watch the world burn sometimes. When we come back here on Lockdown Grizzlies, we are going to discuss John Morant and injury update. The Michael Cole, Memphis Grizzlies beat writer for the Commercial Appeal was there at practice. Heard from Tomaselo dayto day. That’s an exciting bit of information. The Michael will catch us up next. Stick around. Today’s episode of Lockdown Grizzlies is brought to you by the good folks over at Door Dash. The season is heating up and Door Dash has a way to keep fans in their bag the whole way through. Whether you’re watching the highlights, the tunnel fits, or just your favorite player, Door Dash makes the entire season more fun. Because every player has their bag, with Door Dash, fans have one, too. Door Dash keeps your snacks stocked, your gear fresh, and your watch party vibes absolutely on point. There might be nights where your team stresses you out. There might be times where your favorite daily podcast on the Memphis Grizzlies makes you seriously consider whether or not Zion Williamson is a viable trade target, but let Door Dash calm you down and give you some postgame or postshow therapy. Sometimes you just need dessert right now. And if the group said chat says pull up, Door Dash makes sure that you show up prepared. Snacks, cups, even a phone charger for the friend who’s always at 2%. From tip off to overtime, stay in your bag and order on Door Dash. Get snacks, drinks, gear, whatever gets you through the season delivered right to your door. Door Dash in your bag all season long. All right, Deco, I feel like I made you a little bit mad almost there in that last segment. So, we’ll move on from that topic of conversation because I don’t like making you um you know, I like to poke the bear every once in a while. I apologize. Guilty is charged. I just sometimes I think of you as that that Joker uh which I think that was Dark Knight when they Ledger I mean a lot less air and a lot he’s walking off as the car is on fire like you you’d like to do that from time to time. Everything burns baby. Everything burns. Speaking of things burning, the Grizzlies need to burn sage right around the facility trying to get this team healthy, trying to get the vibes uh improved, getting all the bad energy out. It seems like things are improving slowly but surely. I know there was an injury update on John Morant at practice on Thursday. Yeah. Uh definitely improving and you mentioned it, but uh John Morant being dayto-day is is definitely considered a positive uh takeaway. I I think that’s notable considering look he’s still listed as out for the upcoming game. So I know that kind of you know some people were expecting I think you yourself too Joe uh you were expecting him to be kind of listed as maybe doubt for or something like that. But uh yeah, so he’s still he’s still out, but he’s doing a little bit more, you know, at practice this point. Like talking to Salo, he basically said, yeah, he said he’s already moving. He’s able to do some things with the team, so he’s doing some team work. Uh the big thing right now is he’s doing he’s doing things, but it’s not contact and it’s not full speed. So th those are the next steps, right? Uh he’ll be doing contact stuff here soon. He’ll be doing full speed trips. And once he’s able to do those things, uh, that’s when I think we’ll see that John Morant will be able to progress to the level of being back on the floor for the Memphis Grizz. But obviously, huge update, especially considering the schedule. One, you don’t have a lot of games right now, and two, you don’t play a lot of good teams right now. So, uh, definitely an opportunity here where I think you play the Clippers, then you play the Blazers after that. Two winnable games without John Morant. And, um, I mean, if you’re talking about him after those two games after Sunday, the Grizzlies don’t have another game until I believe it’s Friday. So, uh, you gota because it’s the cup. You left that part out to Michael Cole because it’s the cup. That’s why they don’t play until Friday because the eyes of the NBA world are focused on all important all-encompassing. Every bit of fiber and energy in your soul is driven by the cup to Michael Cole. That’s why. Do you remember who won the cup last year, Joe? Just just just curious. Um, because you don’t care. This is funny. Who won the cup last year? the Oklahoma City Thunder. They were in the championship. Okay. So, they lost. They lost. But they won the actual tournament that matters. They won the actual tournament. They won the actual matter. Okay. So, who won the cup? It was the Bucks. It was the Bucks. They beat the Milwaukee Bucks. The thriving Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee for them. But that’s that’s kind of been the theme. You remember the Lakers won the cup and didn’t really turn it into anything. The Bucks. So, winning the cup probably is like a curse right now. Yeah. by all means, keep uh keep keep hyping up this ridiculous event that has very ugly courts. I set them up for that one. Yeah. So, it it’s great that the Grizzlies have four random days off in the middle of the basketball season. It actually plays off for them here because it allows for the team as a whole to get a little bit of rest and freshness. It’s also nice, I mentioned this on an episode this week. There’s no travel in that, right? The Grizzlies play at home on Friday, play at home on Sunday, and then they have literally four days to recoup, sleeps, they and then it’s another home game on that Friday. So, usually, and I know you know this, but for our audience, oftent times the Grizzlies medical reports, they’re doubtful first and then they’re questionable the next game. And that’s usually how it works. But I know you know this too, to Michael, the one exception to that rule over the years has been John Morant. I can remember several times where he has been listed as out or listed as doubtful and he jumps up that next game in uh not necessarily in that order. Jaws seems to be the exception to the rule to these injury updates. Yeah. Uh and and I wouldn’t, you know, I wouldn’t rule that out like it’s this is definitely a situation where look that just again it’s it’s steps especially with the calf injuries. You’re being careful and I think they’re factoring in the fact that you know the schedule’s kind of weak right now. like you should be able to you shouldn’t go 0 and2 over these next games. Uh 0 and three or even one and two. You should at least get two and one over these next three games. Uh if if Jaw potentially misses the next three, but if it’s the next two, you should at least be able to split them like uh and then after that, even the rest of December, you got a very winnable stretch of games. But uh the other players, you know, there’s there’s some I guess you could say minor updates there, too. I think sometime here soon we’ll expect kind of a re-evaluation on Javon Small. I think that could potentially come uh maybe early next week. Uh so so we’ll get something new there. I know people have asked a lot about Ty Jerome. He’s still in the boot right now. Uh he’s definitely doing some work. He was dribbling on the floor. I saw him dribbling on the floor and whatnot. So he’s keeping the ball in his hand, but uh he’s still in the boot. Of course, Scotty Pippen Jr. is still in the boot. Uh so those guys are a little bit ways away. But Brandon Clark, I mean, I know he said it on the broadcast recently. He said uh that he was, you know, able to run, dunk, and jump. But I saw it with my own eyes. And Joe, if you would have saw it, you would have said, “Shout out Modern Medicine.” I’d be shouting out Modern Medicine. You’d be shouting out. Look, let me just put it like this. I don’t want to overhype it because it was it was just him jumping off two feet, throwing down one-handed dunks. Like, but but when I saw it, it definitely looked like some of the explosiveness that we’re used to seeing, you know, uh, from the likes of Brandon Clark. And and better yet, and this I didn’t even get to use this part of the in in the Zion uh trade because you you you always talk about uh Jock Land. Jock Landale and you basically were saying Jock Landale be my backup center because I’m trading Brandon Clark. But uh with Brandon Clark being back with the way that he looked um I mean he he’s he’s progressing well. I’ll say that. I think you know uh the timeline has him roughly somewhere back into December, early January. I think it’ll be back into December. I don’t I don’t see him being out until January based on what we’ve seen. Future Memphis Grizzlies. Great. Zion Williamson still has the Michael Cole flustered here on this episode of Locked On Grizzlies. Uh hit up the Michael, add to Michael, see if you have any further questions about those injury updates. It is good to hear that Brandon uh is recovering nicely. Shout out to Modern Medicine. I’d love to be able to say that with meaning in my heart once more. Uh maybe soon I will be able to do so. When we come back here on Lockdown Grizzlies, we’ll close out this edition of the show back in the friendly confines of FedEx Forum. Hopefully, you’ll be there if you’re in the Memphis area watching the Grizzlies take on the very broken Los Angeles Clippers. Uh should be a victory, but how did the Grizzlies get there? We’ll talk about that next. Stick around. Today’s episode of Lockdown Grizzlies is brought to you by FanDuel. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. That’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You’re not just watching the game, you’re reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. Live betting is best when the game starts to shift, just like on Thursday night when the Cowboys were playing the Lions and the Lions score and they go up by seven early in the game. That is significant because it makes those lines move. Obviously, the Lions become the favorite perhaps. Lions shift around Dallas. A receiver can get hot, a defense can tighten up, momentum can flip after a turnover, just like that. FanDuel lets you jump in on the moment with live spreads and money lines that adjust instantly, like I just said, plus player props that update as guys heat up, and you can bet next touchdown scores, drive results, totals, and more. It keeps you locked into every snap, every drive, and every possibility. So, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast, and so can you. This episode of Locked On Grizzlies is closing out on this Friday. Friday. Got to get down on Friday. No more hypothetical conversations. I don’t want to uh I don’t want anybody to get too mad at me in the comments or hit me up on social media and question my sanity. Uh let’s get back to actual basketball. The Memphis Grizzlies taking on the Los Angeles Clippers on this Friday. Uh really important game for the Grizzlies because as you alluded to, Michael, it’s an easy stretch, easyish, easy relative to other games that they could be playing like against the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Houston Rockets, somebody along those lines. The Clippers are not that. The Clippers have been in the headlines for organizational dysfunction, sending home Chris Paul for being too aggressive of a leader past his prime. This is something that I think the Grizzlies, you talk about dogs, right? And you talk about being tough and you talk about a mentality and trying to develop an identity. I don’t think after the events of this week anybody is going to claim that the Los Angeles Clippers are tough. I don’t know how you could. And we know that the Los Angeles Clippers are old. Even though Chris Paul is no longer there, they’re still a pretty old basketball team. If it was 2019, the Clippers would be like the Oklahoma City Thunder right now. but it ain’t. And James Harden is really the bright spot for this team with bits and pieces of other guys. The Grizzlies will probably have to contend with a highlevel performance from a James Harden, but outside of that, how can they take advantage of this Clippers team that might be the biggest disappointment in the entire NBA? Yeah, he um I mean, don’t you forget Kawhai. Kawhi was the one who really he he lit the Grizzlies up. Will Kawhai be there? Will he I I need to see him actually show up and play. I know you read we saw it the last time he played against Memphis. He showed up 39. He’s like a ghost at this point. He is he going to be off planting trees? Is he going to be there physically? Even this this tree planting the the ghost of the ghost of Clippers past is Kawhi Leonard at this point. So yes, you are correct. Kawhi Leonard obviously also very good. So even though Kawhai is not quite what he was at his peak, he’s still one of the better players of the NBA. him and James Harden are a tsum that you have to contend with. Yeah. Uh look, Kawhi’s really good and he’s had the health problems and things like that. James Harden is having a very resurgent year. That duo was really good in the last game against Memphis. But what was different was uh those two guys really dominate. I believe James Harden had like 29 points, Kawhi had 39, but the Grizzlies did a really good job of kind of taking away everything else uh which led to the win. So, if you look at it from that standpoint where uh the Clippers are able to have big nights from James Harden and and Kawawaii and the Grizzlies still can win kind of pretty handily, that makes you feel good, you know, about the Grizzlies chances, especially at home, you know, in this game. But that Clippers team in the last game that they played, I believe it was against the Hawks, uh they look much improved. They and I know there were some jokes out there like, “Oh, they got the the Chris Paul situation out the way and whatnot.” I’m not really buying all of that. Uh but but they did look much better uh in that win against the Hawks. They dominated that game. And uh look, I’m not overlooking it. But one thing that I really want to focus on in this matchup too is the matchup with Zack Edi and Aisa Zubac. Uh that’s going to be another good one. I believe the last time that the Grizzlies played the uh Clippers, Zack Edit had five points. Uh we’ve seen Zack Edi score pretty much almost at will efficiently against all these other bigs. This is one of the top defensive bigs and it Zubach this is one of those guys Zack Edy himself has talked about how he looks up to him and you know he looks at him and says those are some of the things that I can do in the NBA to have a successful career. I want to see if Zack Eid is going to be more forceful, right? It’s his second time in this matchup. Yeah, he he did his thing on the glass. Believe he had 19 rebounds in that game, but uh five points. Zag Edit is is look Zagiti’s Zagiti is on a on a higher level now. The five points isn’t isn’t cutting it anymore. we’ve already seen him throw up 20s and 30s consistently. So, uh yeah, looking forward to seeing how that matchup uh will play out, too. But, uh this is a very winnable game for the Grizzlies. It’s a Clippers team that’s it’s all over the place right now. And again, the fact that the Grizzlies have already shown that, hey, Kawhai can get 39, James Harden get 29, and we can still comfortably win has to make you feel good about their chances. I mean, Zakiti is the most significant Memphis Grizzly, right? So, Zach, you would imagine, is going to do better than What do you got? What do you got against that tape? What do you got against that take? I just like the poking fraud. I I think that the thing I have against it is the money that is being spent on Jiren Jackson Jr. And that’s kind of where my eyes go is how Jiren responds to the failure that was his game against the San Antonio Spurs. They were posting he and Jaw both on Instagram and those sorts of things. Yeah. Hasn’t Zack Edy looked much better than Jiren since he Yeah. I mean, but Jiren is the one that just got a contract that makes him a near max player. So, you either play the way that you’re paid or you become a an albatross on your team’s books and that would be quite the turn of events for the Memphis Grizzlies. So, Jiren Jackson Jr. picking it up and looking more like a guy that is worthy of the extension he just signed. That would be good to see. and the home cooking in Memphis, both literally and figuratively, will hopefully help Cedric Coward kind of snap out of it, right? It’s important to point out he only played six games as a rookie or not as a rookie, excuse me, and a college basketball player last year. Had an injury at Washington State. He’s played more basketball than he probably has the last couple of years. uh a rookie wall happening early in his tenure is not too surprising, but studies and statistics have shown that role players, young players up and down the list, everybody essentially, and this isn’t groundbreaking analysis, people play better at home than they do on the road more often than not. So hopefully this is going to be a chance for Cedric Coward to get back into a rhythm and be that player that we’ve seen him be where he was that second most significant Grizzly on that now infamous episode of Locked on Grizzly. So Cedric Coward, Jiren Jackson Jr., that’s where my eyes are going. And you’re right, I I all joking aside, Zack Edy has really progressed in a very rapid sense over the last several weeks and I do think we’ll see an improved showing from him as well. Thank you so much for being with us on this edition of Lockdown Grizzlies. is much appreciated. Thanks for making Lockdown Grizzlies part of the best and biggest number one sports podcast network out there, the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Now, after hanging out with us, go listen to find or go listen or watch Locked On Fantasy Basketball. Josh Lloyd hosts the number one fantasy basketball podcast, giving you daily tips and helping you win your league, all while making you a smarter NBA fan. Find Lockdown Fantasy Basketball on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. to Michael. The next time we’re together, it will be after a earlier game against the Portland Trailblazers on Sunday. Couple of games to review. Clippers obviously as well as the Trailblazers and the Grizzlies have that nice stretch of game of days off after those two games. Maybe we can talk about the rare time. You know, Coach Elo talks about how hard it is to find real practice time. Maybe the team gets off on Monday and then they have a couple of days where they can get after a little bit on the practice courts. definitely gonna have some time to get on the practice course. Uh I was talking to some of them about that yesterday. Like this is a very, you know, uh weird part of the schedule, right, where you got a chance to, you know, I wouldn’t say ramp up the intensity too much at practice because you’re still in season and whatnot, but you can you can get after it a little bit and kind of really just start to fine-tune some things a little bit more that you’ve been working on. Of course, you got a couple guys like Jaw getting closer to being back. So, yeah, very pivotal stretch for the Grizzlies coming up. Uh, but these two games are very pivotal, too. Two very winnable games for the Grizzlies. A very pivotal episode of Locked on Grizzlies coming at you the next time that we are together. Make sure you’re liking, commenting, rating, reviewing, subscribing wherever you get podcasts, Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Google, YouTube. Make the Michael and myself part of your everyday NBA and Memphis Grizzlies content consumption. Become an everyday if you are not already one. And continue to help us build up our little the corner corner of the internet that we like to call lockdown grizzlies. I’m sorry if I made you angry with the Zion Williamson trade partner. I don’t mean to do it. It’s all good. You I wonder what the people think. I wonder what the people think. There’s gonna be some people that might agree with that one. There might be some There was a lot more agreement on X than I thought there would be. I’m not going to lie. So, make sure you’re hitting us up on the X in the com or hitting us up on X at Jamonax at the Michael C. Let us know in the comments how you’re feeling. I want to stress I don’t think that’s actually going to happen. I think it’s a very interesting thought exercise how you perceive the current roster. Do it. I would do it. I would do it. I’m not saying it’s going to happen. I’m saying I would do it if I had the opportunity. The Michael made it very clear he would not do it. What say you? For my wonderful Grizzlies. For my wonderful co-host to Michael Cole. I am Joe Mullen. Stay locked in. Have a wonderful weekend and we will catch you right back here next time on Lockdown Grizzlies. See you.

The Memphis Grizzlies are back at home for a matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers. In this episode, co-hosts Joe Mullinax and Damichael Cole talk a Zion Williamson trade idea, Ja Morant’s injury latest and preview teh Grizzlies-Clippers matchup.

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