Memphis beat Portland 124-103 on Thursday night, October 29. The Grizzlies are 5-0 for the first time since 2014-15, when they started 6-0 and finished 55-27. It is only the second 5-0 start in franchise history.

Four of the five wins came on the road, in San Francisco, Sacramento, Salt Lake City and Portland.

1. Oct 21Beat Utah 123-103 at home in the opener
2. Oct 23Won 111-108 at Golden State
3. Oct 25Won 123-112 at Sacramento
4. Oct 26Won 110-105 at Utah
5. Oct 29Won 124-103 at Portland

Two seasons ago the Grizzlies went 48-34, then were swept by Oklahoma City in the first round of the 2025 playoffs. The front office decided the core had gone as far as it could.

1. June 2025Desmond Bane traded to Orlando for four first-round picks and a pick swap
2. Feb 3, 2026Jaren Jackson Jr. (19.2 points a game) traded to Utah with John Konchar, Jock Landale and Vince Williams Jr. for Walter Clayton Jr., Kyle Anderson, Taylor Hendricks, Georges Niang and three first-round picks
3. April 2026Season ends at 25-57
4. May 2026Lottery jumps Memphis from sixth to third
5. June 29, 2026Ja Morant traded to Portland for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray

Grizzlies regular-season wins

Morant played 79 games across his last three seasons in Memphis, 20 of them last season. No picks came back in his trade, and Memphis sent $1 million in cash to Portland. He scored 14 points against his old team on Thursday before leaving with a left hamstring injury.

The opener belonged to Ty Jerome. He scored a career-high 45 points on 17-of-25 shooting, with 7 rebounds and 6 assists, as the home crowd chanted “MVP.” It was the most points by a Grizzly in a season opener, one more than Morant’s 44 in 2020.

Jerome's points, game by game

He was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for the opening week of the season.

That lottery jump turned into Cameron Boozer, the No. 3 pick out of Duke. His shooting has been uneven: 23 of 71 from the field, 32.4%. Everything else has shown up.

Boozer's points, game by game

In Portland he had 18 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists, going 4 of 5 from three. At 19 years and 103 days, he is the second-youngest player with a triple-double. Only Josh Giddey, at 19 years and 84 days in January 2022, was younger.

Eight Grizzlies scored in double figures in Portland, and Memphis had 32 assists. The game was tied 58-58 at halftime. Memphis won the fourth quarter 33-20.

Points per game, first five games

Five games is a small sample. But since 2004-05, 29 of 30 teams that started 5-0 made the playoffs. The only one that missed was last season’s Chicago Bulls, who finished 31-51. Seven of the 30 won the title.

1. Sat, Oct 31vs Sacramento, 8 p.m. ET (2 a.m. Sunday Cairo)
2. Mon, Nov 2vs New Orleans
3. Wed, Nov 4vs Indiana