The Warriors still are celebrating their 2022 NBA championship, but they might already have to worry about a particular matchup come next season.
After Golden State beat the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals and won its fourth title in eight years, Klay Thompson wasted no time calling out Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr.
Thompson’s fiery words fueled an already hot history between the two teams and led to a Twitter exchange between Draymond Green and Ja Morant.
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And in an interview with The Commerical Appeal, Morant didn’t take back any of his words.
“That’s real estate, like I said,” Morant said. “Pretty much something we not worried about. Obviously, they won a championship, congrats to them. But we just got to focus on what we do here for the Memphis Grizzlies and go get a ring.”
The two teams battled in a high-intensity playoff series in the Western Conference semifinals that also consisted of back-and-forth jabs between teams.
But the drama dates back even further.
Golden State Warriors
The Grizzlies still haven’t gotten over the Andre Iguodala saga, when the Warriors traded the 2015 NBA Finals MVP to Memphis in 2019, never playing a game for the team.
Iguodala usually is greeted with boos when he steps into FedExForum in Memphis.
Still, Morant doesn’t view the Warriors as rivals.
“That ain’t no rivalry for us,” Morant said. “We focused on us … We don’t run away from smoke. Whatever comes our way, we there for it. As far as rivalry, we don’t have no teams that are our rivals in this league.”
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OK, well maybe it's too early to call it a rivalry.
But if next season's Warriors-Grizzlies matchups are anything like the Western Conference semifinals, fans are in for a treat.