Tuomas Iisalo, who took over as interim head coach of the Grizzlies when Taylor Jenkins was fired in late March, will keep the job on a permanent basis, the team announced (via Twitter).
“I have full confidence in Tuomas serving as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies going forward,” said team president and general manager of basketball operations Zach Kleiman. “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 compiled a 4-7 regular season record followed Jenkins’ surprising dismissal. After finishing as the eighth seed, the Grizzlies lost to Golden State in the first round of the play-in tournament but advanced to the playoffs with a win over Dallas. They were swept by Oklahoma City in the first round.
Iisalo was in his first season with Memphis after a successful coaching career in Europe and was one of four new assistants hired last summer in a shakeup of Jenkins’ staff.
He led Paris Basketball to the 2023-24 EuroCup championship and was named EuroCup Coach of the year. He also earned 2024 LNB Pro A Coach of the Year honors after taking Paris to the French Leaders Cup title and the French LNB Pro A Finals and was the 2023 Champions League Coach of the Year with Baskets Bonn in Germany.
Iisalo is the first-ever Finnish-born coach in the NBA. He spent 14 years as a player in Finland and appeared in 57 games for the Finnish national team.
Iisalo is the third interim coach to be hired to a permanent job in the past two days, joining Doug Christie in Sacramento and Mitch Johnson earlier Friday in San Antonio. Phoenix is currently the only team without a head coach, while David Adelman is on interim status while leading Denver in the playoffs.
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