Morant only played nine games in total. Desmond Bane reached 42. Marcus Smart only played 20. Jaren Jackson Jr. was the only part of the team’s core group to play a relatively normal quantity of games, and he still missed 16 in total.

“Every season presents something different,” head coach Taylor Jenkins  after Sunday’s loss. “Obviously, this presented something no one was expecting.”

It did give young wings like Vince Williams Jr. and GG Jackson the chance to gain experience and develop, and both seem likely to earn significant roles next season. But for a Grizzlies group with playoff expectations, a 27-55 season was a huge disappointment.

As for Rose, his impact when healthy was muted, as he averaged eight points and 3.3 assists per game, largely coming off the bench (seven total starts). He’ll enter next season as the de facto point guard behind Morant, though Smart could also be used to run the second unit given his history running the point.

A healthy Grizzlies bunch is talented and deep and should rebound in the 2024-25 campaign. The hope is that this season’s injury woes were simply an aberration, not the start of a trend.