Taylor Jenkins Fired by Grizzlies Despite No. 5 Seed in 2025 NBA Playoff Picture

Despite being the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference and closing in on a fourth playoff appearance in five years, Taylor Jenkins is out as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies.

Grizzlies president of basketball operations Zach Kleiman announced on Friday that Jenkins has been fired. Assistant Tuomas Iisalo will take over as the interim head coach, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.

"I’m genuinely appreciative of Taylor’s contributions to this team and this city over the past six seasons," Kleiman said. "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."

According to Charania, "Jenkins was called into the Grizzlies office this morning and was fired in person."

Charania and Tim MacMahon of ESPN reported that the Grizzlies also fired assistant coaches Noah LaRoche and Patrick St. Andrews along with Jenkins.

Jenkins' firing comes nine months after the Grizzlies almost completely overhauled their coaching staff around the head coach. The club announced in July it was retaining two assistants and bringing in six new coaches.

Patrick St. Andrews and Anthony Carter were the only assistants from the 2023-24 staff brought back.

NBA insider Jake Fischer noted on Friday that those changes from last summer "raised eyebrows across the league," but the decision to fire Jenkins is considered "a truly surprising development."

There's no obvious indication why the Grizzlies made this decision now. John Martin of 92.9 ESPN in Memphis pointed out they have just one win over a team that had a winning record at the time of the game since Feb. 3.

Another issue that has plagued the Grizzlies over the past two seasons is injuries. It was more of a problem last season when Ja Morant, Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart combined to play 71 games. (Morant served a 25-game suspension at the beginning of the season but only played nine games after returning before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury.)

Injuries were so prevalent for the 2023-24 Grizzlies that they set a new NBA record for most players used in a single season (33). Things haven't been as bad this season, but they've still used 21 different players so far.

Jenkins was the longest-tenured head coach in Grizzlies history by total games (464). He is the franchise's all-time leader in wins (250) and is tied for second in playoff wins (nine).

The Grizzlies (44-29) enter Friday tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for the fourth spot in the Western Conference. Those two teams will play each other on Saturday at FedEx Forum.