Although people thought he could be fired in the summer, few fans expected Taylor Jenkins to lose his job with the Memphis Grizzlies this week.
But that’s exactly what happened on Friday, and there are still many questions about why.
Damichael Cole dug into the situation in Memphis and found that Jenkins lost his job because he didn’t get along with the team’s general manager, Zach Kleiman.
“Zach blamed Taylor. Taylor blamed Zach. No one takes accountability for absolutely anything,” Cole wrote, per Evan Sidery.
Grizzlies GM Zach Kleiman and former head coach Taylor Jenkins had an apparent rift, per @DamichaelC (https://t.co/j9EVWUUdCC):
"Zach blamed Taylor. Taylor blamed Zach. No one takes accountability for absolutely anything.”
Internal chaos ahead of the playoffs for Memphis. pic.twitter.com/Kh9svkMKoe
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) March 29, 2025
This is not good news for Memphis fans because it suggests there is still a lot of dysfunction in the team’s front office.
Are these the sorts of problems that will continue even though Jenkins is gone?
The front office had every reason to be unhappy about the state of the team.
The Grizzlies have been a promising squad for years, but they have yet to fully deliver on all that promise.
They have been a strong regular-season group multiple times but haven’t had a great postseason run yet.
Still, was firing Jenkins the right idea, especially right before the postseason?
Fans will find out soon because the team is about to push into its final stretch of the season.
If they don’t look different and score a lot of wins, there will be even more concerns about what’s next.
It sounds like there was a blame game being played between Jenkins and the front office, and ultimately, Kleiman won.
But if the Grizzlies don’t become true postseason threats, his job could also be in jeopardy.
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