Tuomas Iisalo is officially the next Memphis Grizzlies head coach.
Iisalo served as interim coach after Taylor Jenkins was fired with nine games left in the regular season, and he led the Grizzlies to the playoffs. They were swept by the Thunder in the first round, but Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman removed the interim tag with an announcement on May 2.
A highly successful coach in Europe, Iisalo joined the Grizzlies as lead assistant ahead of the 2024-25 season. He had a significant impact on Memphis’ offense — both as an assistant and as interim coach — and earned praise from Grizzlies players at the end of the season.
“He holds everybody accountable,” Grizzlies star Ja Morant said. “But he also instills all the confidence in you.”
Iisalo will now have a full offseason to work with the Grizzlies, who will be hoping to make a deeper playoff run after a disappointing season.
“I have full confidence in Tuomas serving as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies going forward,” Kleiman said in a statement. “Tuomas’ teams at every level have been disciplined, tenacious and connected on both ends of the floor, consistently exceeding expectations. We look forward to the same in Memphis.”
Iisalo is the first Finnish-born NBA coach. He played professionally in Finland before starting his coaching career. After coaching his former team Tapiolan Honka in Finland, he landed a job with Crailsheim Merlins in Germany. He worked there from 2016-21 before leaving for Telekom Baskets Bonn. Both teams had historic seasons during his tenure.
In 2023, he left for Paris Basketball and took them from the EuroCup to the EuroLeague for the first time in club history. He was named EuroCup coach of the year.
“I’ve grown tremendously,” Iisalo said at exit interviews on April 27. “That’s the biggest thing. The last 10 years that I coached, it was all as a head coach. And being an assistant coach, it really taught me a ton of things.”
Iisalo had very little time to make major changes, taking over with only nine games left in the regular season and having to deal with multiple injuries to rotation players. The Grizzlies went into the playoffs without Jaylen Wells and Brandon Clarke, both of whom would have played significant roles against the Thunder.
The biggest difference from Jenkins to Iisalo in terms of personnel was the consistency of rookie center Zach Edey. He had nine or more rebounds in all but one of the regular season games after Jenkins was fired, and Iisalo spoke very highly of him at the end of the season.
Morant’s endorsement of Iisalo certainly didn’t hurt his candidacy, and there’s reason to believe that partnership could be even more successful moving forward. In Europe, Iisalo was known for his work with speedy point guards, including EuroCup MVP T.J. Shorts.
“I definitely believe that it could be very beneficial for Ja,” Shorts said before the NBA playoffs. “I know what he did for me, I know what he did for previous point guards and Ja Morant is on a whole other level.”
