The Grizzlies have had a lot going on over the past few days.
Coach Taylor Jenkins was fired on Friday, and Tuomas Iisalo was installed as interim coach ahead of Saturday's game against the Lakers. Saturday was also the Grizzlies' first game back at home after a five-game road trip that included a viral moment when Desmond Bane shoved Santi Aldama during a timeout in Memphis' win over the Jazz.
The Grizzlies were struggling in that game on Tuesday when Bane shoved Aldama into the bench during a timeout. Aldama quickly stood back up and walked toward Bane before teammates separated them.
They getting heated out here in Utah pic.twitter.com/SxoXlfwE8D
— AndrewWigginsHim (@AndrewWiggsHim) March 26, 2025
Both Aldama and Bane said after Saturday's loss to the Lakers that they'd talked after that moment and buried the proverbial hatchet.
"Two competitors," Bane said. "We're scratching and clawing against a Utah team on the road. We're trying to push each other to be better. And that was pretty much that. I probably took it too far. I love Santi. He was in my wedding, I'll be in his wedding. We talked right on the bench right after, hugged it out in the locker room and everything's great."
Aldama echoed that.
"Little disagreement," he said. "Definitely not a good look. Not going to sit here and act like it's nothing, but we talked about it. It's fine. We want to win. It would be worse if we had a bunch of guys that just sat down, twiddled their thumbs and just acted like they were just fine with the situation. We want to win. We're competitive. We just said what we said and then moved on."
The Grizzlies have eight regular season games left after Saturday's loss, but they're now only 1.5 games outside of the play-in.
"Just got to find a way to win games now," Aldama said. "If that's a wake up call, then so be it."
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Grizzlies' Desmond Bane, Santi Aldama address viral altercation
