Grizzlies Fan Vote Reveals MVP, Future Stars and the Team's Most Chaotic Personalities
NBA awards season is here, and we wanted to hear from YOU, Memphis Grizzlies fans.
Who is your team's MVP? What about its next first-time All-Star? Which player is on the best contract? How about the worst?
Which player is most likely to have a burner account? Who's the best athlete? And, perhaps most importantly, if you had to choose one player to team up with during a Zombie apocalypse, who's your guy?
You helped us make sense of the Grizzlies' season by casting a a ballot for each of these awards—and more!
Who Is the Most Valuable Player?
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Winner: Cedric Coward
Jaylen Wells used to be a fifth option, but he led the Grizzlies in total points this year. Cam Spencer, runaway assists and made threes leader, couldn't catch Wells for the team lead in minutes played.
So, yes, it's been a weird year—weird enough, in fact, that rookie Cedric Coward jumped past Wells and the rest of Memphis' more established options to snag MVP honors. He topped Spencer in EPM and finished in a dead heat, despite playing fewer games in Estimated Wins.
Who Is Most Underrated?
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Winner: GG Jackson
GG Jackson didn't do it efficiently, but he was first among Grizzlies who logged at least 20 games with 21.0 points per 36 minutes. That was enough to sway fans, who gave him 36.0 percent of their votes.
Ty Jerome, who missed 80 percent of the season, is actually putting up over 30 points per 36 minutes and has easily been Memphis' most impactful player when on the floor.
Zach Edey appeared in 11 games, completely dominating on both ends before going down for the season.
Who Is the Best Athlete?
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Winner: Ja Morant
Ja Morant is technically still on the Grizzlies, and choosing anyone over him seemed like overthinking it. Even if Morant's speed and bounce aren't what they used to be, he still grades out as an incredible athlete when on the floor.
Jackson and Coward can overwhelm opponents with their size and strength, while Olivier-Maxence Prosper deserves a mention for logging 31 dunks (No. 2 on the team) in only 53 games.
Who Is Most Likely To Be a 1st-Time All-Star In the Next 5 Years?
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Winner: Cedric Coward
If Coward develops, it's possible the Grizzlies already have the best player on their next competitive team. He and Edey both project as plus starters, with Edey already proving himself at that level in small samples.
All-Star nods may not be probable for either of those two, but they're certainly plausible.
Who Has the Best Contract?
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Winners: Ty Jerome and Cam Spencer
A tie!
Plenty of rookie-scale options—Edey, Coward, Wells, Hendricks—were worth considering here. None appealed to fans as much as the ones for Spencer and Jerome, as both earned a matching 35.0 percent of the vote
Jerome will make $9.2 million next season before a $9.7 million player option for 2027-28, and he'll outproduce those figures if he's moderately healthy.
Spencer is an elite offensive rotation player who can stripe it from deep, and he's due a grand total of less than $8 million through 2028-29. If he were to enter free agency this summer, he might make twice that total on an annual basis.
Pippen Jr.'s deal is similarly cheap but runs for one less year. He came in third at 18.0 percent.
Who Has the Worst Contract?
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Winner: Ja Morant
If current trends in health, commitment and production hold, Morant's contract will rate among the very worst in the entire league.
He'll collect $42.2 million next year and $44.9 million in 2027-28. Though Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will be vastly overpaid at $21.6 million next season (player option), and Brandon Clarke's struggle to stay healthy means his remaining $12.5 million could be dead money, nobody on this team came close to Morant in the "bad deal" category.
Who Is the Best Trash-Talker?
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Winner: Ja Morant
Morant does a lot of gesturing, which tends to get him suspended. He took this one home with 55.0 percent of the vote, despite his dad being the bigger talker. Klay Thompson corroborates but does not respect Morant's penchant for chatter.
Spencer wasn't against hyping himself up, though he didn't have a ton to talk about with Memphis losing so much in 2025-26. He chirped at Kevin Durant last season, which counts.
Who Is Most Likely To Have a Burner Account?
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Winner: Ja Morant
Fans didn't sufficiently buy the idea that Scotty Pippen Jr. had a burner devoted to diminishing Michael Jordan's offspring, just so he could head down the same slightly embittered commentary path as his dad.
Morant's social media use was a key factor in starting his career decline, so voters determined anything was possible for him when it came to ill-advised behavior online. You'll note he's picking up a lot of awards for non-basketball-related categories. Not great.
Who Are You Taking With You Into the Zombie Apocalypse?
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Winner: Zach Edey
Jerome's off-time, late-gathering style could make him a tough target for zombies, but too much of his game is based on drawing contact. Generally speaking, you don't want to touch the contagious undead. It's maybe the first rule.
A winning 40.0 percent of fans decided Edey's sheer size would come in handy, while Taj Gibson's old-man strength and life experience made a close second. He survived Tom Thibodeau's playing-time demands, which means he can handle anything. Plus, you just know he'd be the last guy to panic.
Who Is Most Likely To Be Playing Overseas In 2 Seasons?
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Winner: Rayan Rupert
Options abound on a Grizzlies team that gave minutes to a whopping 33 players this year, many of whom were on the fringes of the league already.
DeJon Jarreau, Jahmai Mashack, Adama Bal—all potential Euroleague options. None beat out Rayan Rupert, whose 57.0 percent of the vote made this a runaway.
Of Memphis' more established players, GG Jackson, Javon Small and even Prosper could wind up playing overseas in the near future.
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