Memphis Grizzlies Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Gilgeous-Alexander, Mitchell Named Players Of The Week

November 24th, 2025 at 2:52pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell have been named the NBA’s Players of the Week for the Western and Eastern Conference, respectively, the league announced today (Twitter links).

Gilgeous-Alexander led the defending champions to four wins during the week of November 17-23 while averaging 31.0 points and 6.5 assists per contest and shooting 60% from the field and 64.3% from beyond the arc. Oklahoma City was +82 in SGA’s 125 minutes on the court last week.

Gilgeous-Alexander also earned Player of the Week honors three weeks ago and is the second repeat winner of the award this season, joining Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.

Mitchell posted averages of 31.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game as the Cavaliers went 3-1 this past week. He opened and closed the week with matching 37-point performances against the Bucks and Clippers, going 14-of-22 from the field in each of those two outings.

Santi Aldama (Grizzlies), Luka Doncic (Lakers), De’Aaron Fox (Spurs), James Harden (Clippers) and Jokic (Nuggets) were the other Western Conference nominees for Player of the Week.

Jalen Duren (Pistons), Josh Giddey (Bulls), Brandon Ingram (Raptors), Kon Knueppel (Hornets), Tyrese Maxey (Sixers), Norman Powell and Kel’el Ware (Heat), Ryan Rollins (Bucks) and Franz Wagner (Magic) were also nominated in the East.

Grizzlies Sign Kobe Bufkin To 10-Day Contract

November 24th, 2025 at 9:11am CST by Rory Maher

Nov. 24: The signing is official, the Grizzlies’ PR department tweets.

Nov. 23: The Grizzlies have been granted a hardship exception and will use it to sign free agent guard Kobe Bufkin to a 10-day contract, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.

Hardship exceptions allow a team to temporarily exceed the usual 15-man limit. The NBA awards a hardship exception to a club if it has at least four injured players who have missed three consecutive games and are projected to miss at least two more weeks.

Bufkin will provide backcourt depth for Memphis, which has been hit hard by injuries once again in 2025/26. Four point guards — Scotty Pippen Jr. (toe surgery), Ty Jerome (calf strain), Ja Morant (calf strain) and Javon Small (turf toe) — are currently sidelined, and veteran forward/center Brandon Clarke is still recovering from offseason knee surgery.

The 15th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Bufkin battled injuries during his first two NBA seasons in Atlanta. He missed a significant chunk of his rookie year due to a fractured left thumb and a sprained toe, then underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in December 2024, less than two months into his second year.

In total, the 6’4″ guard made just 27 appearances for the Hawks, averaging 5.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 11.9 minutes per night, with a .374/.220/.654 shooting line. The 22-year-old was traded from Atlanta to Brooklyn during the offseason and it seemed like he might get a chance at a fresh start with the Nets. Instead, he was the victim of a roster crunch last month and was waived to help Brooklyn get down to 15 players for the start of the regular season.

After being cut by the Nets, Bufkin entered the NBA G League player pool and his rights were acquired by the South Bay Lakers following a trade. In two Tip-Off Tournament games (28.7 MPG) with L.A.’s affiliate team this fall, Bufkin has averaged 22.0 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 4.0 RPG and 1.0 SPG on .444/.500/.800 shooting.

According to Grant Afseth (Twitter link), Bufkin was among the guards on Memphis’ radar just before the season began amid the wave of injuries.

And-Ones: K. George, Canada, 2026 Draft, Boozer, More

November 23rd, 2025 at 10:53am CST by Luke Adams

Wizards wing Kyshawn George, one of two active NBA players to represent Canada in the 2025 AmeriCup (Timberwolves forward Leonard Miller was the other), tells Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca that he “one hundred per cent” hopes to play for his home country in the 2027 World Cup and 2028 Olympics.

“That’s one of my goals, to be able to be on that final team that’s going to compete for gold,” George said. “I’m just trusting the process, doing what I can do day-to-day to prove that I belong.”

George, a first-round pick in 2024, had yet to make his NBA regular season debut when Team Canada won bronze at the 2023 World Cup or competed in the 2024 Olympics in Paris. But he has taken a significant step forward in his second season in the league, with averages of 16.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game, plus a .484/.440/.773 shooting line. The 21-year-old credited his time with the national team this summer as a factor in his breakout fall.

“I do a lot of individual work in the offseason,” George said. “But there’s no better way to put it into practice than in an actual game. I was grateful to be able to play for Team Canada and to have them trust me to have that type of role where they trusted me with the ball and to make plays for myself and my teammates, and I think that just kind of led into training camp and the start of the season, where the Wizards have trusted me to make the right decision on the floor.”

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Sam Vecenie of The Athletic shares some of his early takeaways on notable 2026 draft prospects, including explaining why most scouts seem to have Cameron Boozer behind Darryn Peterson and AJ Dybantsa in the race for the No. 1 overall pick. Vecenie points to shot creation and finishing at the rim as areas where Boozer has room for improvement.
Which teams are most in need of a “blow it up” trade? Sam Quinn of CBS Sports ranks all 30 teams by that metric, from the Thunder at No. 30 to the Kings at No. 1. The Mavericks, Pelicans, Clippers, and Grizzlies are also in Quinn’s top five.
The Athletic’s NBA writers identify one area of concern for all 30 NBA teams, including frontcourt depth for the Celtics, turnovers for the Rockets, and three-point shooting for the Lakers.
Veteran NBA reporter Zach Lowe has joined Amazon Prime Video’s NBA coverage, tweets Richard Deitsch of The Athletic. Lowe, who currently works for The Ringer after a previous stint with ESPN, will appear on Amazon’s studio show periodically throughout the NBA season.

Kings Rumors: Murray, Clifford, Sabonis, LaVine, Ellis, Monk

November 23rd, 2025 at 10:10am CST by Luke Adams

The Kings pulled off an impressive win in Denver on Saturday night, upsetting the Nuggets by a score of 128-123. However, even after handing the Nuggets just their second home loss of the season, Sacramento has a 4-13 record, having dropped its previous eight games by an average margin of 23.4 points.

As a result, the Kings are very much open for business, writes Jake Fischer of Stein Line (Substack link). It’s still a little early for the in-season trade market to pick up, but Sacramento is willing to listen to inquiries on players “up and down” the roster, according to Fischer.

While most players on the Kings’ roster could be had for the right offer, Fischer identifies fourth-year forward Keegan Murray and rookie guard Nique Clifford as a couple exceptions. Sources tell Fischer that both players are expected to be off limits this season, with the front office hoping that the young duo will be part of the long-term future in Sacramento. Murray and Clifford are the only two players on the roster whose contracts run beyond the 2027/28 season.

Domantas Sabonis is also something of a question mark, Fischer notes, since team owner Vivek Ranadive is a big fan of the veteran center, and Sabonis enjoys Sacramento and isn’t considered likely to ask for a trade. That doesn’t necessarily mean the Kings wouldn’t move him, but he’s on a maximum-salary contract and is viewed around the NBA as a negative defensively, Fischer explains, so it could be hard for the team to extract the kind of value it would want in a trade.

“It’s tough to pay a center that much who doesn’t protect the rim and doesn’t shoot threes — no matter how great of an offensive hub he can be,” one Western Conference executive told Fischer.

Here’s more on the Kings:

Besides Sacramento, the Warriors were the only other team to exhibit legitimate interest in Zach LaVine before he was traded out of Chicago last season, according to Fischer, who notes that Golden State – having acquired Jimmy Butler since then – won’t be in on LaVine now. LaVine’s maximum-salary contract will make him difficult to move for any real value, though Fischer hears that teams would have more interest if the high-scoring guard were willing to eliminate his $49MM player option for 2026/27 in favor of a multiyear deal that starts at a lower figure.
According to Fischer, the Kings’ former front office showed some interest in Trae Young, and LaVine’s camp made a push in the offseason to sell the Hawks on a deal that would’ve sent LaVine to Atlanta and Young to Sacramento. However, Fischer hears that general manager Scott Perry isn’t interested in pursuing Young, Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball, or Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant, none of whom fits the defense-first mindset the organization is prioritizing under the new regime.
“More than half the league” has called the Kings about guard Keon Ellis, a source tells The Stein Line. Teams around the NBA view Ellis as a “plug-and-play addition with two-way ability,” Fischer writes, noting that Ellis will become eligible for a contract extension before he reaches unrestricted free agency in 2026. Fischer suggests Sacramento might be able to extract a first-round pick for Ellis; he could also be used to improve a package that includes a bigger contract like LaVine’s or DeMar DeRozan‘s.
The Pistons were viewed by several of Fischer’s sources as a potential landing spot for Malik Monk during the offseason, but “no one is saying that anymore,” he writes.

Klay Thompson, Ja Morant Exchange Words Following Grizzlies’ Win

November 23rd, 2025 at 8:00am CST by Luke Adams

Star point guard Ja Morant missed his third straight game on Saturday due to a calf strain, but he was at the center of a post-game incident in Dallas after his Grizzlies beat the Mavericks. As Tim MacMahon writes for ESPN.com, Morant and Mavs wing Klay Thompson exchanged words on the court following the final buzzer and had to be separated by security staff members and coaches (Twitter video link).

After seemingly directing some trash talk Thompson’s way during that confrontation, Morant interrupted teammate Cam Spencer‘s post-game television interview to say, “Tell ’em who the best shooter in the house was, it wasn’t bro from Golden State” (Twitter video link).

Asked during his post-game media session about what Morant was saying to him on the court, Thompson told MacMahon and other reporters it was “nothing of intelligent depth,” per MacMahon.

“He’s a funny guy,” Thompson said. “He has a lot to say all the time, especially for a guy who rarely takes accountability. … It was really just running his mouth, and he’s been running his mouth for a long time. It’s funny to run your mouth when you’re on the bench. It’s kind of the story of his career so far, just leaving us wanting more.”

Both Morant and Thompson are having the worst years of their professional careers so far in 2025/26. The Grizzlies guard is averaging 17.9 points and a career-high 3.8 turnovers per game while shooting 35.9% from the floor and 16.7% on three-pointers. Thompson has put up 10.1 PPG on 34.7% shooting (32.1% from beyond the arc).

Thompson, who will turn 36 later in the season, has a Hall of Fame résumé but has seen his numbers decline in recent years. Morant, 26, should be in his prime, but has been plagued by injuries over the past couple seasons. He also had his career derailed by off-court incidents, including a pair of lengthy suspensions that stemmed from brandishing a firearm in videos on social media. Thompson didn’t directly reference that off-court behavior on Saturday, but he alluded to it.

“We all want to see him out there and do his best, but he’s just been letting a lot of other stuff get in the way of that,” Thompson said of Morant. “We need that in the NBA. We need our best players to be out there, and when you’re a star, it comes with a great responsibility. I hate to see that go to waste.”

Thompson’s Warriors had some memorable games against the Grizzlies over the years, eliminating Memphis from the playoffs in both 2015 and 2022. The veteran sharpshooter spoke with more fondness of those matchups that occurred earlier in his career than the ones from the past few seasons.

“I do actually have a lot of respect for the Grind House,” Thompson said, per Christian Clark of The Athletic. “Mike Conley, Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol. That was a hard team to beat. This new team, though? They just talk a lot. They’ve always talked a lot. They’ve never really backed it up, either. I don’t really respect that. I respect guys who back up the talk with play. Because talk is cheap. I know that better than anybody. I have been in this league a long time.”

Ty Jerome’s Season Debut Still 6-9 Weeks Away

November 22nd, 2025 at 11:33am CST by Luke Adams

Grizzlies guard Ty Jerome is making good progress in his rehab from the high-grade right calf strain he suffered during the preseason, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link).

However, Jerome’s regular season Grizzlies debut remains a ways off. According to the team, the 28-year-old is expected to return to play in approximately six-to-nine weeks. Further updates on his recovery will be shared as appropriate, the club adds in its statement.

A Sixth Man of the Year finalist in 2024/25, Jerome averaged 12.5 points, 3.4 assists, and 2.5 rebounds per game for the Cavaliers, posting an impressive .516/.439/.872 shooting line. His breakout contract year earned him a three-year, $27.7MM deal with the Grizzlies, who were able to poach him from a Cleveland team already operating above the second tax apron.

Memphis envisioned Jerome as a player who could back up and complement star point guard Ja Morant, but the former University of Virginia standout now appears unlikely to see any action for his new team until sometime in the new year.

Jerome is one of several players unavailable for the injury-plagued Grizzlies, who are especially shorthanded in the backcourt. Morant is currently on the shelf with a right calf strain; another point guard, Scotty Pippen Jr., hasn’t played at all this season after undergoing toe surgery in October; and two-way player Javon Small will be out until at least sometime in December due to a toe injury of his own.

Bontemps’ Latest: Davis, Morant, Markkanen, Kings, Nets, More

November 21st, 2025 at 1:07pm CST by Luke Adams

If the Mavericks decide to move Anthony Davis prior to the trade deadline, the expectation is that the return would resemble what Phoenix got for Kevin Durant rather than a haul that features several first-round picks, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. In other words, Dallas probably shouldn’t count on getting more than a couple solid players and a single first-rounder.

Although many of the sources who spoke to Bontemps had trouble coming up with many suitors who would make sense for Davis, a few of those sources speculated about whether the Bulls might make a play for the Chicago native.

“I could see it,” one Western Conference executive told ESPN. “(Josh) Giddey has worked well with (Nikola) Vucevic, but he could use a roll man to throw it up to.”

Bontemps’ sources put Ja Morant in a similar boat as Davis, predicting that the Grizzlies will explore the trade market for the point guard but will have trouble finding a package they like.

According to Bontemps, people around the NBA are also keeping a close eye on Lauri Markkanen, who is having a bounce-back season with the Jazz on the heels of a down year in 2024/25. After averaging 19.0 points per game on .423/.346/.876 shooting in 47 games last season, Markkanen has put up 30.6 PPG on .485/.385/.885 shooting through 14 outings this fall, so he’d have more trade value now — if Utah is open to dealing him.

“He’s putting up monster numbers,” a West executive said. “They’re running everything through him. If he goes to a place that he’s an additive piece … you have to have the right team around him to go after him.”

Here are a few more highlights from Bontemps’ look at all 30 NBA teams:

Scouts around the league are speculating about Doug Christie‘s job security in Sacramento and are waiting to see if the Kings begin looking to trade veterans like Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, and/or Zach LaVine. “They’re a disaster,” an Eastern Conference scout told Bontemps. “They’re going nowhere fast. They just have to put a rock on the accelerator and keep going into the tank … they’re expensive, bad and aging.”
Multiple executives who spoke to ESPN believe the Nets have the least talented roster in the NBA. Brooklyn is off to a 2-12 start, with its only victories coming against fellow bottom-feeders Washington and Indiana.
There’s skepticism about whether 2024 lottery pick Rob Dillingham can become the Timberwolves‘ point guard of the future, Bontemps writes. Dillingham is still just 20 years old but is off to a slow start in his second season, having shot just 37.3% from the floor, including 20.0% on three-pointers. “I’m not sure that’s ever going to work,” one scout said. “Maybe things come around, but it’s hard to see it.”
According to Bontemps, there was “virtually no talk” during the preseason about a possible rookie scale extension for Jalen Duren, with the Pistons and the big man believed to be far apart on a potential deal. Duren, who turned 22 on Tuesday, has taken a significant step forward in the early going this season, with averages of 20.6 points and 11.9 rebounds per game, and appears to be in line for a significant payday next summer.
Scouts have been impressed by the work first-year head coach Jordan Ott has done with the Suns, who are outperforming expectations so far with a 9-6 record and could be a playoff contender. “They’ve been way better than I thought,” a Western Conference scout said. “They’ve got enough pieces around Devin (Booker) where they’ll win the games they should win. (Ott) has them playing the right way and competing.”

Fischer: Hornets ‘Not Actively Looking To Move’ LaMelo Ball

November 20th, 2025 at 10:35pm CST by Rory Maher

Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports reported on Thursday that LaMelo Ball has become “increasingly frustrated” with the Hornets and is open being traded to a new team. Iko, citing league sources, also wrote that Charlotte’s front office had grown “disillusioned” with the star point guard and was open to a deal as well.

NBA insider Jake Fischer has heard differently. In his latest Bleacher Report live stream (YouTube link), Fischer said he made several calls on Thursday regarding Ball’s situation with the Hornets, and while rival teams are “hoping” and “preparing” as though the 23-year-old may become available prior to the February 5 deadline, that is not currently the case.

“I can tell you with absolute certainty that the Hornets are not actively looking to move LaMelo Ball any time soon,” Fischer reported.

Fischer went on to say that several key members of the organization — including Ball, coaches and front office executives — want to get a better idea of what the team looks like when Brandon Miller returns to action before making any type of drastic changes.

“LaMelo Ball is not asking out, to my understanding,” Fischer said. “And the Hornets are not actively looking to trade him by any stretch right now.”

According to Fischer, Ball isn’t the only former All-Star point guard that rival teams are monitoring: Ja Morant of the Grizzlies and Trae Young of the Hawks — both of whom are injured at the moment — fall into that category as well.

Fischer’s Stein Line colleague Marc Stein reports in his latest Substack story that the Hornets, Grizzlies and Hawks have each denied that they’re willing to listen to offers for their maximum-salary guards. Yet Stein also hears rival clubs are skeptical of that posturing and think that Ball, Morant and/or Young could indeed be on the market in the coming months.

Injury Notes: Leonard, Jerome, Murray-Boyles, Heat, Cavs

November 20th, 2025 at 6:56pm CST by Rory Maher

Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard went through portions of Wednesday’s practice, though he didn’t do any contact drills, head coach Tyronn Lue told Law Murray of The Athletic and other media members (Twitter video link).

“He did a few things,” Lue said. ” … He’s definitely gotten better. I mean, I don’t know how long it’s gonna be (until he returns). But he’s definitely gotten better. Just seeing him on the floor yesterday was really good to see.”

Leonard, a two-time Finals MVP, was off to a strong start this fall prior to suffering right ankle and foot sprains on November 3. The Clips were 3-3 in the six games Leonard played but have gone just 1-7 without their highest-paid player. The 34-year-old missed his ninth straight game on Thursday in Orlando.

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

Free agent addition Ty Jerome has yet to play for the Grizzlies in 2025/26 after suffering a high-grade right calf strain during the preseason. The seventh-year guard will be reevaluated on Friday, with a return timeline expected to come in the days after that examination, tweets Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Collin Murray-Boyles, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2025 draft, will miss his second straight game on Friday due to an MCL sprain in his right knee, as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca relays (via Twitter). The Raptors forward/center has averaged 8.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in 20.0 minutes per game through 11 appearances as a rookie, with a shooting line of .500/.500/.762.
Heat forward Andrew Wiggins has been diagnosed with a left hip flexor strain and will be sidelined for his first game of the season on Friday in Chicago, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Fourth-year forward Nikola Jovic was ruled out of Wednesday’s game with a right hip impingement and will miss at least two more, as he didn’t travel with the team on its two-game road trip, Jackson reports.
While Cavaliers sharpshooter Sam Merrill will be out for the second straight contest on Friday with a right hand sprain, it’s possible point guard Darius Garland could return to action. The two-time All-Star is questionable against Indiana, per the NBA’s injury report, as are Jarrett Allen (right third finger strain) and Jaylon Tyson (concussion). Garland has missed the past five games after re-injuring his surgically repaired left great toe last week, but head coach Kenny Atkinson recently said the 25-year-old was “really close” to suiting up.

Western Notes: LeBron, Vincent, Draymond, Kuminga, Holiday, More

November 18th, 2025 at 1:47pm CST by Luke Adams

After participating in this morning’s shootaround, Gabe Vincent (left ankle sprain) has been upgraded to available for the first time since October 26, while LeBron James (sciatica) is being considered a game-time decision when the Lakers host the Jazz on Tuesday night, tweets Dan Woike of The Athletic.

James, who practiced with the Lakers on Monday, said his lungs felt “like a newborn baby” and that he was still working on getting his conditioning and his voice back to normal, writes Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group.

“I got to get my lungs back up to a grown man,” James said. “My voice is already gone. One day back, barking out calls and assignments and stuff, getting my voice working again. Be a lot of tea and rest (on Monday night).”

James’ record-setting 23rd NBA season has been delayed by sciatica on his right side, which forced him to miss the start of a season for the first time in his career. The 40-year-old told reporters, including Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times, that he also dealt with sciatica two years ago, referring to it as “not fun.”

“If you ever had it, you go about it and you wake up one day and you hope that when you step down from the bed that you don’t feel it,” LeBron said. “You go to bed at night, and you hope that when you’re in the bed that you don’t feel it. So I’ve been doing pretty good with it as of late. There’s a lot of exercises and a lot of mobility things and a lot of things you can do to help it. So I’m just keeping a positive mindset.”

James will go through his normal pregame routine in the hopes of playing on Tuesday, per Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter video link).

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

Warriors forward Draymond Green wasn’t fined for his face-to-face altercation with a fan who was heckling him in New Orleans on Sunday (Twitter video link), but the NBA did issue a warning over the incident, a source tells Charania (Twitter link). “He just kept calling me a woman,” Green said of the fan after the game, per Nick Friedell of The Athletic. “It was a good joke at first but you can’t keep calling me a woman. I got four kids, one on the way; you can’t keep calling me a woman. He got quiet, though. So, it was fine.” The fan told The Associated Press that he was chanting “Angel Reese” at Green after the Warriors veteran rebounded several of his own missed shots.
Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga (bilateral patellar tendonitis) will miss a third consecutive game on Tuesday when the team faces the Magic in Orlando, tweets Anthony Slater of ESPN. Reporting last week indicated that there are no structural concerns with Kuminga’s knees and that the forward’s absence should be “relatively short-term.”
Trail Blazers guard Jrue Holiday missed Sunday’s game – a loss to Dallas – and is listed as doubtful to play on Tuesday vs. Phoenix due to right calf soreness (Twitter link). As Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report (subscription required) writes, Holiday’s absence on Sunday was especially impactful because so many of Portland’s other point guards are sidelined due to injuries too. “Jrue is our core,” Blazers forward Deni Avdija said. “I feel like he does everything on the floor. He puts us in our positions. He’s a real true point guard and a leader. When he’s out of the game, it’s definitely felt.”
Jahmai Mashack‘s new two-way contract with the Grizzlies is for two years, while Jamaree Bouyea‘s two-way deal with the Suns is for the rest of the season, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. Bouyea was ineligible for a two-year contract because this will be his fourth season in the NBA.