Matt Barnes doesn’t know all of his teammates’ last names?
By John Buhler
Memphis Grizzlies’ Matt Barnes has had so many teammates come and go through the locker room because of injuries that he doesn’t know all their surnames.
It has been a very injury-plagued season for the Western Conference’s Memphis Grizzlies. According to ESPN’s J.A. Adande, 27 men have donned the many shades of blue with the Grizzlies this season, being part of their 15-man roster at any point this 2015-16 NBA season.
Even though it has only been small forward Matt Barnes’ first season with the Grizzlies, it’s been a whirlwind for the veteran wing to keep up with the amount of transactions Memphis has had to orchestrate to field a healthy roster for head coach Dave Joerger.
Barnes kind of poked fun at the amount of roster turnover his Grizzlies are experiencing when he spoke with Adande saying, “With all due respect, sometimes I don’t know…the last names. But that’s what kind of season it has been.”
When Barnes became part of the Grizzlies this past summer, the veteran wing best known for his time with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers probably thought that he was suiting up to play for the cult classic Grit N’ Grind Grizzlies with point guard Mike Conley, power forward Zach Randolph, elite wing defender Tony Allen, and Memphis’ adopted son center Marc Gasol.
With Gasol and Conley missing significant time and former point guard Mario Chalmers tearing his Achilles’ Tendon, it’s really been a next-man-up type of season for the Grizzlies.
Even though Memphis will have had the most injury-plagued season in the NBA in 2015-16, the Grizzlies are still 10 games over .500 at 41-31 and in fifth place in the Western Conference standings.
With 10 regular season games remaining and a six-game lead over the ninth place Utah Jazz, the broken-down Memphis club will make the NBA Playoffs, regardless of if Barnes even learns all their names. Not including his own surname, Barnes has 14 names to figure out come playoff. And…go!