Grizzlies Going INTERNATIONAL: But no MLK Jr. Game in Memphis in 2026!

Grizzlies Going INTERNATIONAL: But no MLK Jr. Game in Memphis in 2026!

For the first time in nine years, the Memphis Grizzlies will not be hosting a Martin Luther King Jr. Day game in Memphis, Tennessee. That is because the team will be across the pond heading to England and Germany as part of the NBA’s International Series, taking on the Orlando Magic. That means that Desmond Bane almost certainly will not be coming back for a game in Memphis this season as well. Lots of layers to this announcement. We’re going to break it all down and more on this episode of Lockdown Grizzlies. Let’s lock in. You are Locked On Grizzlies, your daily Memphis Grizzlies podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Welcome, welcome, welcome to this Thursday episode of Lockdown Grizzlies. It is I, Joe Mullenax. Happy to be here with you and we have some major things to discuss on this episode of the show. Hopefully, you’re uh with us and you’re ready to go on a bit of a roller coaster ride with me through a a various amount of emotions. And we’ll talk about all that and more coming up next here on the show. Make sure you’re liking, commenting, rating, reviewing, subscribing, wherever you get podcasts, Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, YouTube. We are proud members of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team each and every single day. all the ways that you get podcasts. Make sure you’re making Demike and I a part of your NBA and Memphis Grizzlies content consumption each and every time that an episode drops. Again, we’re powering through here. We got one more day, one more episode on Friday for you guys and then we’re going to enter into the dog days of the offseason. It’ll be closer to three episodes a week, maybe four. Uh it won’t be an everyday situation as we really get into the the brothers of the NBA offseason. But you know what? As much as I dislike the worst commissioner in professional sports, Adam Silver, at the very least, he threw me a bone on this solo edition of the pod, and we have something to discuss at length. I want to make something perfectly clear before we get this journey started. Adam Silver is not responsible for this by himself. Okay? So, as fun as it is for me to blame Adam Silver, and I will blame Adam Silver, there are layers and others that need to be held accountable for the decision that was made. And if you’re wondering, Joe, what decision are you talking about? The Grizzlies announced on Wednesday morning officially, the Memphis Grizzlies will be playing the Orlando Magic in the NBA Berlin game in 2026 on Thursday, January 15th at the Uber Arena in Berlin, Germany. And they’ll also be playing the London game 2026 on Sunday, January 18th at the O2 Arena in London, England. That is a significant thing for the organization and that’s going to be what we talk about later on in the program. We’re going to there’s definitely positives here. I want to stress that and we will be I’m an unbiased journalist. Yeah, if you call me a journalist, unbiased podcaster perhaps. I’m going to give you both sides of the story. But if I’m being honest in my personal opinion, I’m leaning towards the negative. And that is because I, as a human being, am inherently selfish, just like you, our dear everydayer, just like you, our dear listener, our dear viewer, hopefully checking us out for the first or second time and making the decision to hit the subscribe button as soon as possible. We are all selfish in nature. And when I look at this news that the Memphis Grizzlies are not going to be hosting a Martin Luther King Jr. day game for the first time since 2017, I believe. As someone who has followed this team since 2011, that bothers me. As somebody that lived in Memphis, Tennessee for three years, three of the best years of my life, not the best years, because I’m an optimist and I like to think those are still to come. Yeah, we’re on the same page there. I bet three of the best years of my life so far were spent in Memphis, Tennessee. It’s where my girlfriend became my wife, started my family. The amazing connection that I still have to that place is a major reason why I still do this all these years later. I know how important the Martin Luther King Jr. Day game is to the city of Memphis and I know how it’s important to the Grizzlies organization. And that’s why I will give credit to Grizzlies president Jason Wexler who later on in the Grizzlies press release says in order to undertake this rare opportunity to bring Memphis to an international audience. It would require the team to be away from home on Martin Luther King Day. However, we remain committed to supporting the Memphis community over the MLK Day holiday while the team is traveling and we look forward to the Grizzlies once again anchoring the NBA’s MLK Day schedule in 2027. He hit on a key piece there that we’ll talk about later in the show. But still, in a market like Memphis, arguably, in my opinion, there’s not an argument, but I’ll say arguably, again, we’re trying to be unbiased on this Thursday edition of the show, arguably the smallest market in the entire NBA, the connection to that particular day because of the history of Martin Luther King Jr. in the city of Memphis. That not being the focal point bothers me. The Grizzlies are in Memphis, Tennessee for reasons that go beyond financial. If you don’t believe that, that tells me that you either haven’t looked at the books because the Grizzlies are not rolling in the dough. I haven’t looked at the direct books, but I know the finances of the team enough to know that because of the market, they are not a team that is a financial priority for the league. They’re just not. They’re not the Warriors. They’re not the Lakers. They’re not the Knicks. That’s reality. They’re on the far opposite end of the spectrum. I also understand that they are there because of the ability to maybe not unite the city because it’s probably kind of silly to say that in 2025 about a professional sports team, but they are there to be a civic model and focal point of growth. That is a really good way in my opinion to put it. way to view it. They are a fulcrum. They’re a piece where the city can pivot and put things around it. Whether it’s the beautifification of downtown with the lease agreement that we talked about on a recent episode, or whether it’s the amazing work that the Grizzlies organization does every year around MLK Day, the symposium, the athletes that are brought into town to talk about race relations among athletics and sports, the community service things. A lot of that stuff obviously can still happen with the team not there, but what is the main event of the day? What is the main event of the weekend? Every year that there’s been a game in me in in Memphis, it has been the game, the Grizzlies hosting an opposing team and the messaging around the game, the reminders of King’s legacy around the game. That’s the largest audience that the team is going to get in any given year to be specific about the civic connection to the city of Memphis and the significance of Dr. King. That matters more than a basketball game in January. It just does to me. So, it bothers me that the team will not be hosting the MLK Day game. I don’t think that people should take it as a slight, and we’ll talk more about that here in a moment. I don’t think it’s an insult to the Grizzlies or the Memphis city limits. I think that it is the timing that sucks. It’s the timing that’s the problem. If this International Series was happening in December and the Grizzlies got MLK day game, I would be jumping through hoops, bing bending over backwards that this is a reality for Memphis. And we’ll talk about the positives of it here in a minute. But losing the MLK Day game, even for just a year, if you’re an international viewer of this show, if you’re an international listener, hit us up in the comments. Hit me up on XJ Mullenex. I know you’re there. Again, we get data of people that listen to the show, watch the show. I have social media followers on X that are thrilled with this news because they’re international or they’re outside of the city limits. They’re outside of the greater Memphis this metro. If you are somebody that is in Memphis, you’re losing a home game. And that home game that you’re losing is the game against Desmond Bane, which is another piece of this in the Orlando Magic. Desmond Bane’s not coming back to Memphis this year. Almost certainly it’s possible the way that the NBA Cup, that stupid tournament, that the worst commissioner in sports, Adam Silver, is devised to try to make regular season games matter more and all it does is make ugly courts. In my opinion, that tournament could in theory lead to an extra Grizzlies me uh of Memphis in Memphis taking on the Magic at FedEx form. That’s possible, but it’s very unlikely. So these are the two the home and home that the Eastern Conference team Magic would play against the Grizzlies. That’s this their home, our home, I believe. And in that space, that means that no Desmond Bane tribute, no opportunity to say thank you to Dez this season in person. That stings, too. But the worst part of it is not having a Martin Luther King Jr. Day game. That bothers me. That’s what skews on the side of negative in my opinion. When we come back here on Lockdown Grizzlies, we’re going to turn the script. We’re going to flip it. We’re going to focus on the positive because there is positive to this. Again, if you’re you’re a Memphian, you’re probably pissed off. Maybe not too bad, but you’re you’re upset that the team is not going to be having an MLK day game, more than likely. Let’s talk about the positives of this move coming up next here on Lockdown Grizzlies. Stick around. Today’s episode of Lockdown Grizzlies is brought to you by Monarch Money. You ever wish managing your money felt easier? With Monarch Money, it can. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. 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The amazing thing about this opportunity for the Grizzlies, and again, remember we’re pivoting now. This is positivity. We’re in positive town. All right, Wexler, I’ll read the quote again. In order to undertake this rare opportunity to bring Memphis to an international audience, it will require the team to be away from home on MLK Day or for MLK Day. However, we remain committed to supporting the Memphis community over the MLK Day holiday while the team is traveling. We look forward to the Grizzlies once again anchoring the NBA’s MLK Day schedule in 2027. It’s for one year. This is not a complete deviation away from the mission of the MLK Day game for Memphis in particular. And the Grizzlies will continue to do that work. The things that cameras don’t always catch, right? That’s important. We will get those things still. the donations and the time commitments in the community. The players won’t be a part of it, which again is one of the draws, but at least the raw work will still occur. And Wexler makes a very fair point. This is a tremendous opportunity, a rare opportunity for the Memphis Grizzlies in particular to not just be on the national stage. This is the international stage that we are talking about here. So, the Grizzlies are going to Berlin where obviously Tuas Iselo has a connection. Again, the Grizzlies press release points that out. It’s the first regular season NBA game to ever be held in Germany. Grizzlies head coach Tomas Iselo guided the German club Telecom Basketball to the basketball champions league title in 2023. That’s cool. That’s an awesome opportunity for coach Iselo. And it’s making history. the first regular season game held in Germany. This is the first time in the history of the Grizzlies franchise that they are playing outside of North America and it’s only the sixth and seventh games that Memphis has ever played outside of the US and Canada. There are preseason matchups in 2003, 2005, and 2007. And that is again from the Grizzlies press release. That 2007 was what, 18 years ago, and those were preseason games. So, we’re talking about something 18 years ago. Pretty impressive when you think about it. And that opportunity comes around very rarely for a team in the market like Memphis Tennessee. So you have a chance to not just be on the national stage but the international stage as the league tries to go more global and you have the opportunity to put your players in particular John Mar and Jiren Jackson Jr. on that stage. And we’ve talked recently about Jaw Morance’s international tour. China, Japan, Manila, all these different places that Jaw has had the opportunity to go to and the superstar that he appears to be in these spaces. Now you’re bringing that energy hopefully to Europe and John Morant will have the chance to play in a place where NBA fans that are growing in that area of the world have never had a chance to see a player like John Mar play. And Palabiro and Jiren Jackson Jr. Our old friend Desmond Bane all of those guys are going to be on the international stage. Obviously, the NBA has a vested interest in this working. So, that tells me two things. One, they believe that the Grizzlies and the Magic are two viable franchises that have the capacity to go over there and represent the league. Well, John Morant is the best player or less at least the biggest star. Maybe you can debate biggest play best player, but he’s the biggest star on the team. So, this is a reinvestment in that idea. that John Morant could theoretically be a face of the NBA that represents the league. Again, he’s not going over there alone, but he’s the biggest star on the on the stage. No disrespect to Bancherero or Bane or Vagner or Suggs or Jiren Jackson Jr., but it’s Jaw who’s on this Nike tour for his signature shoe. And it’s Jaw who has these top selling jerseys around the world. John Mar’s the biggest star going on this European tour. It’s an acknowledgment of that and it’s an acknowledgment of these two teams, especially Memphis, obviously here on Lockdown Grizzlies representing the league. Well, that matters. That matters and it’s a great chance for the Grizzlies to represent Memphis on the global stage. Who’s to say that they can’t do something about Dr. King on this trip? Maybe that’s in their plans. Maybe they take a piece of Memphis with them in how they carry themselves, Memphis culture, the city itself, and the very unique area around it. They represent the city because how many people in Europe know much about Memphis, Tennessee? It’s very possible they know more about Memphis, Egypt, than Memphis, Tennessee. It’s probably closer. I don’t have a map in front of me, but I’m guessing because the whole ocean thing there in the continent of Africa being south of Europe, fingers crossed, don’t have the map in front of me. Pretty sure that’s right. But you understand my point. This is a chance for Memphis to show not just the country, not just the basketball world, but to an extent the world itself because the NBA is going to push this. We’re talking about expansion, not just in terms of America, going from 30 teams to 32 teams. The NBA is seriously looking into putting teams in Mexico City or a team in Mexico City. The NBA is serious about partnering with FIA to develop a European league that could rival the Euro League over there in Europe. They don’t want this to mess up. So, it is going to be heavily advertised and it is going to be pushed by the league brass heavily and this is not something that the Grizzlies would have volunteered for without the understanding of the demands of it and without wanting to actually do it. That’s important to understand, too. And if you followed this team, especially in this Wexler era with the Grizzlies president, Jason Wexler, they do a remarkable job of really highlighting the best of Memphis. Memphis has problems just like any city does, but when you feel the culture of the city through the way that the team carries themselves, that is significant. They’ve done it well in the past on social media. There’s been clamorings for that to improve, but again, in the past, that’s been strong. They have really represented what Memphis is and what Memphis is trying to be, the best of that place. They’ve represented it well. And now it’s a chance for one of the best things about Memphis to go out into the literal world and show what the Grizzlies and their city are about. That is really cool. That is really cool. And I think that that is a real acknowledgment of the power of opportunity. The Grizzlies are being given a tremendous chance to showcase what they are and what Memphis is. That has to be appreciated. Timing of it sucks. I wish it wasn’t during the Martin Luther King Day game window, but these things are planned out months and years in advance. There’s windows of time that make the most sense financially for the league, and that is going to be the priority. You have to remember that Adam Silver works for the 30 governors or owners, whatever you want to call them, of the National Basketball Association franchises. He works for them. He is going to do what is in their best interest and in the best interest of the league is to try to make money. The best interest of trying to make money apparently is sending the Magic and the Grizzlies over to Europe and that is something to celebrate. Memphis has a tremendous opportunity to be on the global stage. Let me know on X. Hit me up in the comments. This is something for European fans that is going to be huge. I I had several in my mentions on X talking about how this is a really cool opportunity for them to see the team that they never thought they would have. That’s very fair. Very fair. I am inherently selfish. There are pros and cons to this like we’ve been talking about. Let me know in the comments. Hit me up on X. How are you feeling about this major announcement? We’ll close out today’s episode of Lockdown Grizzlies. Pivoting a little bit, taking a look in our comments again and this idea of unproven players. Stick around here on Lockdown Grizzlies. Welcome back to Lockdown Grizzlies. It is I, Joe Mullenax, flying solo, no to Michael Cole this time around. We’ve had a great time talking about the positives and the negatives of the Grizzlies going international again. It was announced on Wednesday morning, the NBA Berlin game. First time that there will be a regular season game held in Germany. NBA game in London that the Grizzlies will be participating after that because of the timing right before Martin Luther King Jr. game. It means the Grizzlies will not be hosting an MLK Junior Day game, but the opportunity to go international was really cool. Broke it all down earlier. We’re going to close out this episode again. In the comments, there were people questioning my logic about Jaylen Wells and even Zack Edy to an extent, saying that they were unproven players and why there’s this love for unproven players. First off, I don’t understand the definition of unproven. These are two guys that were first team all rookie players. All right. And when you’re looking at the team as a whole and the failure that occurred the last 30 games of the season, because they were they were failures, right? You look at all of that. My problem with putting any of that on two rookies that were asked to start is you have guys that were paid a heck of a lot more money than expected to do a heck of a lot more. As I’ve said numerous times, again, maybe the catchphrase last year is, “Are we trying to win a championship or not?” To me, the Grizzlies are no longer trying to win a championship. You may disagree with that, dear listener, dear viewer, and I’d love to hear it in the comments. I’d love to hear it on X at Joe Mullenax. Let’s Let’s have a dialogue here. Maybe you think a championship should still be the expectation. I have no idea what roster you’re looking at that you think the team got better this summer. I don’t. I think they got worse. I’m cool with it because I think they’re better structured to be better moving forward. The financial realities and the second apron with this new CBA, they have more to be able to build around Jaw and Jiren now. But you don’t trade away a top 40 player in the NBA and Desmond Bane and then all of a sudden expect because you have Contavius Cwell Pope and Ty Jerome on the roster. You think those two are going to replace Bane? That’s a little disrespectful to Desmond Bane. Desmond Bane was here last season. He couldn’t get the job done. At least the way that you want them apparently to get the job done. If you have these loftier expectations, Desmond Bane’s almost a max player. Did he play like an almost max player last year all the time? No. Jiren Jackson Jr. The disdain for Jiren Jackson Jr. Jiren deserves the contract he just signed. He’s one of the top 20 players in the league. He has flaws and he’s been around a heck of a lot longer than Zack Edy and Jaylen Wells. Jiren could have been better. And then there’s John Moran who we obviously are hopeful that is going to be on the court and a massive, massive problem for the other 29 teams in the National Basketball Association. But John Morant has not played more than 65 games, but once I believe in his entire NBA career, one of those was co. You have to acknowledge that. But it’s not like because of suspension or health concerns, he hasn’t been there consistently. How is that Jaylen Wells’s fault? How is that Zach Edy’s fault? If the injury aspect isn’t John Morant’s fault, how in the world is it theirs? And how can you expect rookies to be your best players? They shouldn’t be. So, the fact that they contributed the way they did should be celebrated in my opinion. And Jaylen Wells is an excellent defender. Zack Edy is an excellent screener. You don’t need multiple superstars in your starting lineup. Supposedly, you’ve got two. You’ve got two. And John Morant and Jiren Jackson Jr., Those are the dudes. And if they don’t compete, you’re not you’re not making the playoffs. You may not make the play in, much less the playoffs. And you want to talk about Jaylen Wells and Zack Edy being unproven. They did everything that you could have expected them to do last year. There were people on social media and in our comments saying that Zack Edy was one of the worst draft picks in the history of the NBA. It was nonsense then and it looks even crazier now. Unproven players. Are you trading Zack Edy for for Eightton out in Los Angeles? Would you rather have Eighton? I wouldn’t. Eightton’s arguably more proven. Would you rather have somebody other than Wells that is a proven defender that’s been around five more years? Again, now you’re getting into financial conversations. That’s the reason Desmond Bane’s no longer here. You talk about proven. Desmond Bane has proven to be one of the best offensive players in the entire NBA. They traded him. They traded him. This proven thing, how can you prove anything unless you are given the opportunity to do so? They haven’t had it. And when they have had it, they have produced. I’m with you on GG Jackson. I’m with you on Vince Williams Jr. Heck, I’m with you on Cedric Coward. What has Cedric Coward done to earn any possible lineage and connection to a starting job or even a rotation place? We got to see him play. Vince Williams Jr. fell backwards last year. GG Jackson went backwards last year. You could be an optimist and say it’s because of injury and you expect them to bounce back, but it’s fair to say that they didn’t live up to what we thought they were going to be. You want to say they’re unproven? Maybe. What more do you need to see from Jaylen Wells? This kid was a second round pick and he becomes the best pound-for-pound selection in the entire 2024 NBA draft. What more do you need? Zach Edi I’d mentioned before seeing as he’s going to be a colossal failure he wasn’t spoiler alert and that was with a coach that didn’t believe in him clearly didn’t play him the way that Isela was going to play him so it’s fair to assume if he comes back healthy big if with the Memphis Grizzlies that Zachi is going to have a better year I don’t get the unproven frustration all those sorts of things I don’t get it what more do you need to Unless you want them to be superstars, which they’re not going to be. Deichel uses the phrase elite role player. Can Jaylen Wells and Zack Ed be elite role players? Absolutely. And that’s what the Grizzlies need. They’ve got their two superstars. They need those guys to keep growing in the elite role players, and they need Jaw and Jiren to be better, and they need to be available. Otherwise, nothing else matters. Thank you so much for being with me on this edition of Locked on Grizzlies. It is much appreciated. Thank you for making us your first listen hopefully today. For your second listen, go find the Locked On NBA podcast where there is no offseason. Doug, Matt, and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors, and everything that you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find Lockdown NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Tomorrow is Friday and if you are an everydayer, hopefully you are, you know, we got to get down on Friday. Deichel wrote extensively about all of this going on with the Grizzlies with this international game. We’ll get his perspective on that. We’ll also take that closer look as we talked about a little bit more deep diving into the roster, maybe back end of the rotation. What can we expect from two-way guys who might be on the fringe of not being around that much longer? Lots of different ways that we can close out this week. And then again, friendly reminder, we’re going to start our process of not every day. Again, three to four times a week is going to be our goal in August. So, it won’t be your team every day. It’ll be your team almost every day in August as we get into um that that that dog day time of year in the offseason. Again, we don’t want to disrespect uh your intelligence here and and we’ll, you know, put out content for the sake of content. We want it to be an episode that is worth your time and we take pride in that here at Lockdown Grizzlies. And hopefully uh you’ll stick with us as we go into a little little lighter con uh content calendar starting in August, but not the first day of August. The first day of August, you will have a Friday edition of Lockdown Grizzlies and we’ll be very happy to have that for you. Thank you for being with me today. Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, YouTube, wherever you get podcasts. Like, subscribe, comment, all those fun things. Until next time, see you.

Good news and bad news. On the positive side – the Memphis Grizzlies will be on the NBA’s international stage at a key time for the league. However, no Martin Luther King Jr. Day game at FedExForum – and likely no Desmond Bane homecoming next season – makes the opportunity bittersweet. Host Joe Mullinax breaks it all down on this episode of Locked on Grizzlies!

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