Desmond Bane was involved in a brief physical altercation with teammate Santi Aldama on the Memphis Grizzlies bench earlier this week. A few days later head coach Taylor Jenkins was fired. General manager Zach Kleiman addressed the media Saturday but didn't give many details about why.
While the the bench incident and Jenkins's firing aren't necessarily related, it does demonstrate some of the chaos that the Grizzlies have been dealing with this season. In a new article in The Athletic, we learned exactly what happened to cause Bane to shove Aldama during a blowout win.
Earlier this week, during a 37-point shellacking of the Utah Jazz, starting guard Desmond Bane and reserve Santi Aldama exchanged shoves on the bench after a disagreement about defense. According to a league source who witnessed the interaction in person, effort — or lack thereof — was the focus of their friction.
It began when Bane asked Aldama a rhetorical question.
“Are you gonna f—ing guard anybody?” he shouted.
Aldama responded, “F— you,” to which Bane fired back, “No, f— you. Play harder.”
Memphis is 44-29 this season and right in the thick of the playoff picture in the Western Conference, but have lost five of their last seven games. As The Athletic points out, it's now the job of interim coach Tuomas Iisalo to stop the fighting and get the team back to winning.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as NBA Insiders Detail NSFW Exchange That Led to Desmond Bane Sideline Altercation.
