Memphis Grizzlies

Ja Morant takes the ball coast to coast and finishes above bigger men. Before him it was a different kind of physical: Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, Mike Conley and Tony Allen built the "Grit and Grind" identity between 2010 and 2019. Randolph and Allen both have their numbers, 50 and 9, hanging in the arena; Gasol's 33 joins them.

None of it has produced a championship. The Grizzlies have reached the Western Conference Finals once, in 2013, and lost there to the San Antonio Spurs — now one of the rivalries, along with Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Clippers. Division titles have come twice, in 2022 and 2023, with Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane as the current core.

The franchise did not start in Tennessee. It was founded in 1995 as an expansion team alongside the Toronto Raptors and spent its first six seasons in Vancouver, playing at General Motors Place before the move to Memphis in July 2001. The Pyramid Arena held the team for its first few years there before it settled, in 2004, into FedExForum, known locally as the Grindhouse. It seats 18,119.