The Memphis Grizzlies are, by winning percentage, the 5th best team in the entire National Basketball Association. They boast the most unique offense in the entire NBA, combining slashing and cutting with the league’s fastest pace.
They are the only team current in the NBA per Cleaning the Glass that currently boasts both a top-5 offense and top-5 defense over the course of the entire season (both 5th, in fairness). Memphis is 5th in the league in point differential overall and 4th in the last two weeks.
And yet - not only did the Memphis Grizzlies not get the nod as an All-Star Starter...they were not particularly close. The New York Knicks, meanwhile, got two starters in Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns (much to the frustration of LaMelo Ball fans everywhere).
In his latest newsletter, The Only All-Star Chart You Need To See, Owen Phillips from The F5 shared a great chart that compared All-Star fan voting to “Estimated Plus Minus”. There were some not-so-surprising Grizzlies nuggets in there.
“Jaren Jackson Jr. is 7th in EPM, but 38th in fan voting. He’s probably the best player that isn’t a household name. This seems to be a common issue among Grizzlies players as Desmond Bane also received fewer fan votes than you’d expected based on his impact.”
With Ja Morant being the exception, the rule has been that Memphis Grizzlies players often get overlooked. But the part from Owen’s post that really stuck out to me was the phrase “household name”. Again, having followed this team since 2011, the lack of name recognition for a Grizzlies player isn’t the shock.
It’s the tangible evidence of the NBA’s inability to market one of their best teams.
Compare the plight of Jackson Jr., who will likely be named an All-Star reserve, and Bane (who probably will not be), to Bronny James. The son of living legend LeBron James, he is much more of a household name than perhaps he should be compared to productivity. Again, from Phillips-
“Bronny James ranks 474th in EPM, but 67th in fan voting. I’d call him the most overrated player in the league, but he’s played less than 30 minutes in the NBA this season.”
Ouch.
He’s right though. James is an NBA player essentially in name only. But if you asked the causal NBA fan who he was, and who Jaren Jackson Jr. was, there’s a higher likelihood that they know Bronny.
That’s a problem.
The NBA landscape media-wise is changing. LaMelo Ball’s #1 fan voting status compared to the media voting him 7th among guards is a prime example of this. What the consumer wants, or seeks, is different than what oftentimes is prioritized. In the case of Memphis’ lack of name recognition? It’s what should be recognized.
Two of the three players most responsible for one of the NBA’s best comeback stories this season are relative NBA universe unknowns. How that changes - or if it ever will change - will be a common narrative to follow as the Memphis Grizzlies franchise marches forward.
