The team was originally established as the Vancouver Grizzlies, an expansion team that joined the NBA for the 1995-96 season. After the 2000-01 season concluded, the Grizzlies moved to Memphis.
Original proposals were for the team to be called the Vancouver Mounties, but objections from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police forced the team to find a new name.
Hubie Brown won the NBA Coach of the Year Award during the 2003-04 season when the Grizzlies finished with a 50-32 record and made the NBA playoffs for the first time in team history.
In his first season with the Grizzlies, Pau Gasol became the first foreign player to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. He averaged 17.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, and was also the only team member to play in all 82 games that season.
On February 1, 2008, Memphis traded Pau Gasol to the Los Angeles Lakers as part of a trade package that included his younger brother, Marc Gasol, who was sent from the Lakers to the Grizzlies.
On January 3, 2007, Mike Miller made nine three-pointers in a win over the Golden State Warriors, breaking Sam Mack's Grizzlies franchise record of eight in a game set in February 1999.
Despite playing only 26 games for the Grizzlies in 2019 (and starting only 11), Delon Wright became the first player in franchise history with three triple-doubles in a season, two of which came against the Dallas Mavericks who traded for him after the season.
A mythological half-man, half-beast creature known for devouring people whole, the Wendigo was an apt nickname for long haired, uber-aggressive Grizzlies rookie center Marc Gasol when he appeared on the scene in 2008. Gasol was a wild man on the court, an inside presence who banged the boards and battled in the paint, averaging 11.9 points and 7.4 rebounds as a rookie.
Mike Conley, Jr. is a three-time winner of the NBA Sportsmanship Award (2014, 2016, 2019).
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