There are 10 active NBA players who have won MVP for either the regular season or NBA Finals. And there’s a chance only one of them, reigning Finals MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, will still be playing in the second round of these playoffs. 

As of this writing, that’s still to be determined. The Philadelphia 76ers, with reigning regular season MVP Joel Embiid, are down 3-2 in their series with the New York Knicks. The Milwaukee Bucks are down 3-2 to the Indiana Pacers, with injured three-time winner (two regular season, one Finals) Giannis Antetokounmpo still waiting to play his first game. 

And the Los Angeles Clippers, with three past-their-prime winners in James Harden (regular season), Russell Westbrook (regular season) and injured Kawhi Leonard (Finals, twice), are down 3-2 to the Dallas Mavericks.

Riverbeat Music Festival reimagines what a Memphis riverfront fest can be

But however those three series shake out, there’s a now widely noted generational change afoot in these NBA playoffs. Embiid and Antetokounmpo — 30 and 29 years old, respectively — are firmly in their prime, joining the 29-year-old Jokic to collectively claim the past five regular-season MVPs (with Jokic about to make it six) and two of the past three Finals MVPs.

They are, for now, the three most dominant players in the league. But their predecessors are fading. 

LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Leonard, all now well into their 30s, are the cohort who dominated the league for more than a decade. From 2009 to 2022, these four players claimed 16 of 28 MVPs across the regular season and Finals. If the Clippers fall or Leonard doesn’t play again, this will be the first time since 2005 none of those four players are in the second round of the playoffs.

But the current dominance of the Jokic-Antetokounmpo-Embiid generation won’t last either and probably will fade quicker. 

There’s a new wave rising into the second round, right now led by Oklahoma City’s 25-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Minnesota’s 22-year-old Anthony Edwards, Boston’s been there, somehow still just 26-year-old Jayson Tatum and, more than likely, Dallas’ returning 25-year-old Luka Doncic still a win away.

Grizzlies Insider: Draft workouts start and other Memphis offseason notes

There’s a name missing there, and the “returning” modifier on Doncic should make the absence of “Ja Morant” somewhat easier to take. 

Doncic led the Mavericks to the West Finals in 2022 then missed the playoffs completely last season. Now he’s back with his team on the cusp of advancement. 

Morant’s Grizzlies haven’t made it quite as far but already have a second-round appearance on their resume and got there when Morant was only 22.

For now, the Grizzlies are sidelined. 

Instead it’s Edwards pairing 40-point playoff games with break-the-internet dunks, stealing Morant’s title as the most exciting young player in the game.

Herrington: Memphis Grizzlies 2024 offseason roster rankings, Part 2

It’s Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder gathering for celebratory postgame interviews while a basketball nation fawns, forgetting that the 2022 “We Here” Grizzlies did this first. Grizzlies fans haven’t forgotten. More importantly, if you watch social media closely — which I don’t advise — Grizzlies players haven’t either. 

Who cares about the latter? That’s a reasonable response. But caring could add a dash of rivalry spice to next season. 

Do the Grizzlies and their fans feel left out? 

Of course they do.

But what’s currently painful is also promising. 

For the moment, the Grizzlies have been passed. If the Nuggets can hold off the Wolves and Thunder and Mavs this spring, the Grizzlies have a chance to re-enter the fray alongside them as a still-young team chasing the twice-defending West champs.

They can do so with Curry’s Warriors, Durant’s Suns, Leonard’s Clippers and maybe James’ Lakers — the Lakers tend to find a way — wobbling, with the Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans never quite breaking through. And with the Houston Rockets and Victor Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs still (probably) not ready. 

The Grizzlies, twice recently the conference’s second seed, fell to Curry’s Warriors and James’ Lakers. Are the Thunder and Wolves better now than the Grizzlies were then? Or have the old stars and their teams gotten worse?

Probably and definitely.

Herrington: Memphis Grizzlies 2024 offseason player rankings, Part 1

The Grizzlies’ moment was ahead of schedule for them and for the vulnerability of their more-established opposition. 

But these playoffs suggest another moment is there to be had.

So memo to Morant and Co.: Soak in the disappointment. Let it be fuel. The second round of the playoffs would be a nice place to be right now. But Morant’s identified the next best place: the lab.

Ghost of Grizzlies past 

It’s a good week to be Mike Conley. 

The Grizzlies’ all-time leading scorer is again captaining a team, now the Minnesota Timberwolves, into the second round of the playoffs, somewhere Conley’s been more in his career — now for a third different team — than the Wolves have in their franchise history.

He was also just named the recipient of the NBA’s annual Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award. Conley also got this award in 2019 as a member of the Grizzlies. He joins Boston’s Jrue Holiday as the only multiple winners. 

Things haven’t gone quite as well for the other former Grizzlies in the playoffs. Let’s stick to those who played for the Grizzlies this past season.

David Roddy, whom the Phoenix Suns traded for to bolster their playoff depth, logged only two minutes in the Suns’ first-round sweep to the Wolves.

Xavier Tillman Sr., whom the Boston Celtics traded for to bolster their playoff depth, logged only seven minutes in the Celtics’ five-game win over the Miami Heat, all that coming in a Game 5 blowout even with starting center Kristaps Porzingis unavailable. 

When the Grizzlies got off to a 6-19 start this past season before Morant’s abbreviated return, it was with Roddy logging the third most minutes on the team. It was with Tillman opening the season as the starting center. 

Tillman gave way to Bismack Biyombo, who, despite a late start, played the fifth most minutes in those first 25 games. Biyombo ended up with the Thunder. His total minutes in their first-round sweep of the Pelicans: zero. 

Not to demean those players, but it shows how much the Grizzlies were leaning on players early last season who wouldn’t have been rotation fixtures on a good team.