Hoops Habit
Fansided

Ranking the NBA’s small market teams

By Jonah Kubicek

Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurscredit (Robert Sullivan /AFP via Getty Images)
Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurscredit (Robert Sullivan /AFP via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
7 of 16
Next
Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies
Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images) /

#10: Memphis Grizzlies

The Memphis Grizzlies have a worse winning percentage than the Hornets, Pelicans, and Nuggets, they’ve never made an NBA Finals, and their best player of all time is Marc Gasol, but they make the playoffs. In 20 seasons since moving to Memphis, they’ve made 12 playoffs and have always played better than they should against good teams.

Do they deserve to be considered a “good” franchise? Nope, not in terms of NBA history, although they seem to always be in the thick of it.

Plus, they have a positive culture. The Wolves and Kings have culture, sure, but usually, it’s centered around being laughed at. The Nuggets don’t have any, and neither do the Hornets or Pelicans. The Grizzlies have Grit and Grind, which is just so badass.

As soon as Grit and Grind ground to a halt, Ja Morant and the current iteration of the Grizzlies arrived, bringing some swag to Beale Street.

This team used to play in a giant glass pyramid that has since become a Bass Pro Shop. It’s the seventh largest pyramid in the world, and it’s a Bass Pro Shop. Yeah, the Grizzlies need as much swag as they can muster.

While the Grizzlies–like most small market teams–have never really been much of a threat to win it all, they have played spoiler, keeping good teams out of the second round and the playoffs as a whole. That’s good enough for me, they earned this spot.