Former Tennessee guard Jahmai Mashack. Photo via @Grizzlies on X.
After the trade deadline and due to injury, the Memphis Grizzlies have been playing pretty shorthanded. Due to the lack of bigs, former Tennessee basketball standout and Grizzlies rookie Jahmai Mashack has been slotted to play center at times.
On Friday, in a 135-115 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, Mashack filled the role and played a total of 20 minutes off the bench. In that time, he produced five points, a rebound, an assist and three steals.
This isn’t completely foreign for Mashack, either. He was asked to be a small-ball center at times at Tennessee, despite being listed at just 6-foot-3, 197 pounds. While it’s a bit different at the NBA level, he was clearly confident in his abilities during an interview with Michael Wallace of Grind City Media.
“It’s different. It’s definitely different,” Mashack said. “Especially, like, depending on the offense. Tennessee, it was less screening when I was at the five over there. I think over here, it’s a lot more screening, rolling, making sure I’m getting guys open, trying to facilitate. It’s definitely different for your first two NBA games trying to play a different position. It’s something to adapt to, but I don’t have no excuses for it. I want to be able to do that to the best of my ability. That’s one of my main things is being multi-positional, especially on the defensive end, but also on offense being able to do multiple things.”
Mashack on playing center and having to learn quickly during a challenging time for the team.
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— Grind City Media (@grindcitymedia) February 7, 2026
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Mashack is taking the challenge head-on and treating it as a compliment from the organization that they believe in his ability. Even though he’s giving up nearly a foot of height to most centers, his versatility is a weapon that can keep him on an NBA roster.
“I definitely take it as a compliment that they trust me to be able to be in that position,” Mashack said. “I think that just makes me even more of a rare player, that I can do stuff at the one that I’ve been playing this whole season in the G-League, and also going to the five if I have to, like I did today. I kind of take that as a stance of confidence and something that they’re trusting me with.”
Next, Mashack and the Grizzlies will be in action on Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET against Portland again. The rematch could be a nice post-Vols-Kentucky viewing with UT basketball playing in Lexington at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Mashack is on a two-way contract with Memphis, meaning he splits time between the NBA and G-League.