LeBron James garnered attention last month when he publicly trashed the city of Memphis. What seemed harsh at the time appears to be a widely-held opinion within the NBA community.
The Athletic published its annual anonymous player survey on Monday and asked players a variety of questions, including which team they would place on their hypothetical no-trade list. The Memphis Grizzlies were a clear No. 1 with 35.8 percent of the vote.
The anonymous comments that came with the balloting made it clear those feelings had little to do with the team and was more about the city. One named Memphis as “a place I don’t want to live,” while another was even more blunt.
“It has nothing to do with the team. It’s the location of the team,” one anonymous player said.
This largely echoes what James said in April: Memphis is a bland city and the Grizzlies should just move to Nashville. Apparently, plenty of others endorse that opinion.
The Grizzlies looked like an up-and-coming team in the West a few years ago. Now they are coming off a 25-57 season and nobody seems to want to play in their home city.
