25 years ago today: The Grizzlies’ first game in Memphis, Pau Gasol and Shane Battier’s debuts, and a 90-80 loss to Detroit

Twenty-five years ago today, on November 1, 2001, the NBA played its first regular-season game in Memphis. The Grizzlies, four months removed from Vancouver, opened their season against the Detroit Pistons before a sellout crowd of 19,405 at The Pyramid on the banks of the Mississippi River. They lost 90-80.

It was also the night two rookies who would define the franchise’s early years in Tennessee played their first NBA game. Shane Battier, the No. 6 pick out of Duke, started and scored 7 points in 37 minutes. Pau Gasol, the No. 3 pick from Barcelona, came off the bench and had 4 points and 4 rebounds in 17 minutes. Six months later Gasol was Rookie of the Year.

From Vancouver to The Pyramid in four months

The Grizzlies spent six seasons in Vancouver and never reached the playoffs. Owner Michael Heisley, who bought the team in April 2000, applied to move it after saying it had lost more than $40 million in the 2000-01 season. On July 3, 2001, the league’s Board of Governors unanimously approved the move. It was the first NBA relocation since the Kings left Kansas City for Sacramento in 1985.

The front office had already moved to Memphis by then, and on draft night it made its picks from temporary offices at The Peabody hotel. Within about 36 hours the Grizzlies traded their two best players. Shareef Abdur-Rahim went to Atlanta for Lorenzen Wright, Brevin Knight and the rights to Gasol. Mike Bibby went to Sacramento for Jason Williams and Nick Anderson. Wright had grown up in Memphis and played college ball at the University of Memphis.

A 12-point lead, then Jerry Stackhouse

The Grizzlies were the last of the league’s 29 teams to open their season, and the city made a show of it. Commissioner David Stern welcomed the crowd. Isaac Hayes performed “America the Beautiful,” and Justin Timberlake, another Memphis native, sang the national anthem. Wright took the microphone before tip-off. “We want you guys to be the best fans in the NBA,” he told them.

Memphis led 21-18 after one quarter and 43-36 at halftime, then stretched the lead to 48-36 early in the third. Detroit answered with a 25-17 third quarter and took a 61-60 lead into the fourth. Jerry Stackhouse then scored 13 of his 34 points in the last four minutes.

November 1, 2001: 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐲𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐝 🏀 pic.twitter.com/uT5e290bSa

— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) November 1, 2020

• Final: Detroit Pistons 90, Memphis Grizzlies 80, Thursday, November 1, 2001, at The Pyramid. Attendance 19,405. Jim Clark, Terry Durham and Bill Kennedy officiated.
• Pistons: Stackhouse had 34 points on 12-of-29 shooting and made all 9 of his free throws. Clifford Robinson added 24 and Ben Wallace had 11 rebounds, six steals and five blocks.
• Grizzlies: Wright led Memphis with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Stromile Swift had 16 and 10 off a 5-of-7 night, Michael Dickerson 15 and Williams 11 with seven assists and six turnovers. Memphis shot 35.9 percent and committed 25 turnovers.

Gasol’s quiet start

Gasol had started the last two preseason games, but coach Sidney Lowe went with Swift in the opener and used the 21-year-old Spaniard as the seventh man. He checked in late in the first quarter, and his first NBA basket was a dunk on a fast break from a Williams pass. He finished 2 of 5 from the field, missed both of his free throws and had four turnovers and three fouls. Memphis was plus-1 in his 17 minutes.

“I’m going to do much better,” he said after the game. “My margin for improvement is wide, and I think I can do quite well. I want to be a great player already this season.”

Battier played the second-most minutes on the team. He made 3 of 6 shots, missed both of his 3-point attempts and had seven rebounds.

0-8, then a first win

Memphis lost its first eight games. The first win came on November 17 at The Pyramid, 98-93 over Cleveland. Battier scored 20, Gasol had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Williams had 16 points and 14 assists.

The team finished 23-59 under Lowe, last in the Midwest Division. But Gasol played all 82 games and averaged 17.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks on 51.8 percent shooting. He received 117 of 126 first-place votes for Rookie of the Year, becoming the first European to win the award. Battier averaged 14.4 points in 78 starts and made the All-Rookie first team with him.

What came after

Jerry West took over the front office in 2002 and hired Hubie Brown as coach that season. In 2003-04, Memphis went 50-32 and reached the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, Vancouver years included. The Grizzlies moved out of The Pyramid and into FedExForum in 2004.

Gasol stayed in Memphis for six and a half seasons and made his first All-Star team as a Grizzly in 2006. He was traded to the Lakers in February 2008 and won two championships there. The Grizzlies got the rights to his younger brother, Marc, in that trade. Pau left Memphis with 8,966 points, then the most in franchise history. Three players have passed him since: Mike Conley, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. He entered the Hall of Fame in 2023.

Battier was traded to Houston in 2006 and later won two titles with Miami. Wright, the Memphis native who asked the city to be the best fans in the league that first night, played in Memphis until 2006.