Memphis Grizzlies Fire Coach Taylor Jenkins Despite His Winning Record

The Grizzlies, who haven’t played well against top teams this season, are apparently making a late-season switch with an eye toward the playoffs.

Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins looks on during a game against the Utah Jazz on March 25, 2025, in Salt Lake City. Rob Gray/AP Photo

Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins had a winning record, but he was fired.

The Grizzlies parted ways with Jenkins on Friday in his sixth season at the helm. Memphis made the playoffs in three of those seasons, but that all came during a three-year stretch from 2020 to 2023.

“I’m genuinely appreciative of Taylor’s contributions to this team and this city over the past six seasons,” Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman wrote in a statement on Friday. “This was a difficult decision, given the consistent and tangible development of our players and overall success under Taylor’s leadership. I wish Taylor the very best going forward.”

Memphis has a 44–29 record this season, and the Grizzlies are poised to take the No. 5 seed for the Western Conference playoffs. Jenkins isn’t the first head coach to be fired after 40-plus wins. That happened to then-New Jersey Nets head coach Larry Brown, who had 47 wins in the 1982-1983 season.

Memphis hasn’t officially named an interim head coach, and the Grizzlies don’t play again until Saturday against the Los Angeles Lakers at home. The Epoch Times reached out to Jenkins for comment and didn’t receive a reply by publication time.

Jenkins had a successful tenure overall with the Grizzlies, going 250–214. He is the all-time winningest coach in the Grizzlies franchise history, and Jenkins led the Grizzlies to their first-ever division title in the 2021-2022 season. Jenkins could now be one of the most sought-after available coaches in the offseason.

An Arlington, Texas, native, Jenkins got into coaching through the San Antonio Spurs organization in 2007. After an internship with the basketball operations department, Jenkins served on the coaching staff for the Spurs’ D-League team, the Austin Toros, from 2008 to 2012. That included a D-League championship in 2012.

Jenkins moved up as the Toros’ head coach in the 2012-2013 season, and he led the team to a 27–24 mark. That led to a jump back to the NBA, where he served as an assistant for the Atlanta Hawks from 2013 to 2018. That included an Eastern Conference finals appearance in 2015.

Jenkins had another with his next assistant job for the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2018-2019 season. That 60-win Bucks team helped Jenkins land a job with the Grizzlies as the head coach in June of that year.

Jenkins got a boost right off the bat when the Grizzlies took Ja Morant with the No. 2 pick in the 2019 draft. A two-time All-Star, Morant has been a star for the Grizzlies throughout Jenkins’s tenure with 22.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 7.4 assists, and a steal per game for his career thus far.

Memphis won two Southwest Division titles and had a winning season in all but two of Jenkins’s seasons with the team. His success also led to a multi-year extension in 2022.

While this year’s Grizzlies look on pace for another strong season, Memphis hasn’t fared well against the league’s elite. The Grizzlies haven’t beaten the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder this season in four tries.

Overall, the Grizzlies are 14–26 against teams that are at least .500 in the standings. If the season ended today, the Grizzlies’ playoff foe would be the Lakers, who have a 2–1 record against Memphis this season. It wouldn’t get any easier in the following round since the Thunder own the top seed and have beaten the Grizzlies by at least 13 or more points each time.

Morant has played in only 43 games due to injuries and illnesses but is averaging 22.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 7.4 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. Power forward Jaren Jackson Jr. has been leading the team in scoring with 22.4 points per game plus 5.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game in 66 contests. Guard Desmond Bane has been strong all season in 61 games played with 18.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game.