Memphis Grizzlies: Is Adding More Talent Ahead of Western Conference Playoff Pictures Priority?

Sports Illustrated's Madelyn Burke and Rohan Nadkarni discuss whether the Memphis Grizzlies should plan to add talent to bolster stars Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr.

The Memphis Grizzlies have long been called the underdogs, often flying under the radar. But Sports Illustrated's Madelyn Burke and Rohan Nadkarni discuss the team's talented core, with players Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., and whether the Grizzlies should plan to add even more talent to bolster those two during matches.

Here's the full video transcript:

Madelyn Burke: The Grizzlies have a talented young core in Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., but for a team on the fringe of the Western Conference Playoff picture, is adding more talent around them a priority? Joining me now is SI NBA writer Rohan Nadkarni and Rohan, is the clock ticking on Memphis for putting together a championship team and how quickly can the front office start ramping things up? 

Rohan Nadkarni: You know, the front office is in an interesting position here. Obviously, it's great that they found these foundational pieces in Jaren Jackson Jr. and Ja Morant. But when you're a small market, I think that creates an even bigger sense of urgency for you to put a capable team around these guys. We don't know if Ja and Jaren Jackson Jr. are necessarily going to be the type of superstar players that are going to win you a championship. But for Memphis to go from Mike Conley Jr. and Marc Gasol to these guys, they're going to want to get back into that playoff mix sooner rather than later. They can't, you know, risk kind of wasting this time here. But the small market usually don't find these kinds of players so quickly after your last successful team. So I do think for Memphis, there's an element of—we have to ramp this up a little more quickly than we imagined because of how good these guys are at such a young age. 

Madelyn Burke: Time does actually fly. And being an eighth seed for Memphis is not necessarily a long term goal. Rohan Nadkarni, thank you so much for the insight.