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With the NBA tentatively set to return on July 31, the Memphis Grizzlies can make a bit of NBA history should the team qualify for the postseason in the Western Conference.
The Grizzlies were in eighth place when the regular season was suspended on March 11 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Should they maintain that position, and make the playoffs, they would make history behind the play of Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Grizzlies can become the third team in NBA history to make the playoffs with their two top scorers under the age of 21. Morant leads the Grizzlies with 17.6 points per game while Jackson is second with 16.9 points per game.
According to @EliasSports, the @memgrizz can become the third team in NBA history to make the playoffs with their top-two scorers under the age of 21, joining the 09-10 Thunder (Durant and Westbrook) and the 97-98 Timberwolves (Garnett and Marbury).
— Jeffrey Wright (@JWright929espn) June 5, 2020
The NBA Board of Governors on Thursday approved a competitive format to restart the 2019-20 season with 22 teams returning to play. The 16 current playoff teams and six additional teams will travel to the Walt Disney World Resort to play near Orlando, Florida.
Each team will play eight regular-season games for seeding purposes for the NBA Playoffs. After the eight games, if the ninth seed is fewer than four games behind the eighth seed, the two teams will participate in a play-in tournament. If the eighth seed is more than four games ahead of the ninth seed, the eighth seed earns the playoff berth.
If the Grizzlies hold onto the eighth seed, they would either outright qualify for the postseason or participate in a play-in tournament with the ninth-placed team. In that scenario, they would need to be beaten twice to be eliminated so they appear to have a good chance to make history.
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