Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane is in the running for Kia Most Improved Player.
Restraint rests stoically on Desmond Bane’s face, as he stands in a dark hallway tucked inside the bowels of San Antonio’s AT&T Center.
If you’ve spent any time watching Bane and the brash, young, Memphis Grizzlies, you know this won’t last.
“I didn’t know how good we were gonna be,” Bane explained to NBA.com. “I knew we were a young team, had some promising young talent, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to grow with those guys with everybody being a similar age to me. I love the culture. You could just see it. It looked like they were having fun playing, playing together, and [in] a small market, which is what I wanted, just so I could lock in on my craft and on my game.”
The classy sentiments flowed easily initially, but the mere mention of Memphis’ relentless style brimming with confidence bordering on cocky finally coaxed out a smile.
You’re speaking politely Des, but you guys are some dogs out there.
Bane laughingly nods in acknowledgment.
“No, for sure [we are],” he said. “That’s what I’m saying: we know how to mingle and keep it professional, but when we step in between those lines, it’s a different animal out there.”
⭐️ RISING STAR DES 🌟
RT to salute @DBane0625 on being named a #NBAAllStar Rising Star#GrzNxtGen pic.twitter.com/7VjHazuUnF
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) February 2, 2022
Memphis demonstrated as much through its first 53 games, climbing to near the top of the food chain in the ultra-competitive Western Conference, having knocked off some of the NBA’s heavy hitters along the way in the Warriors (twice), Jazz (twice), Heat, 76ers, Suns and Bulls going into Wednesday’s matchup against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
> On ESPN: Grizzlies vs. Knicks (7:30 ET)
Alongside Ja Morant’s meteoric rise and the steady improvement of Jaren Jackson Jr., second-year swingman Bane deserves plenty of credit for Memphis’ current run of success.
The sophomore guard returned from a three-game absence (Health and Safety Protocols) on Jan. 26 to help the Grizzlies reel off a three-game winning streak, before falling Monday in overtime to the Joel Embiid-less Philadelphia 76ers.
Bane entered that outing as one of two players (Kevin Durant is the other) over the last 25 seasons to average 20-plus points on 50-50-80 shooting splits on the road (minimum 10 games) over the course of a season. He poured in a career-high 34 points, hitting 5 of 9 from deep to go with seven rebounds and three steals in the defeat, as Morant whipped up a game-high 37 points and five assists.
“There’s great chemistry, they’ve got a lot of confidence in each other,” Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said of Morant and Bane. “Ja’s ability to find Des in a lot of different situations whether it’s play calls, his drive-and-kick game, pick-and-roll game, he’s just got a great awareness for him. Those guys are playing well off each other.”
Desmond Bane and Ja Morant discuss the team's mentality after a big win vs. Chicago.
The 30th pick of the 2020 NBA Draft, Bane earned second-team All-Rookie recognition last season after leading all rookies in 3-point percentage (.432), which registered as the third-best 3-point percentage since 2009-10 behind Stephen Curry (.437) and Jayson Tatum (.434 in 2017-18).
If there’s an opposing player on the court that got drafted before me, it’s a little motivation. And a lot of times, they’re not even on the court.”
— Desmond Bane
Bane only ratcheted up the production in Year 2, engineering the largest jump in points per game (from 9.2 points to 18.1) among 308 players over the last two seasons to play at least 25 contests. His points per 36 minutes bumped up from 14.8 to 21.6 among 265 players over each of the last two seasons to play at least 500 minutes, with only Morant tallying a larger increase in points per 36 minutes from last season.
That’s quite the improvement for an unheralded and overlooked prospect unsure initially of how he might fit in the NBA.
“Training camp [as a rookie] was terrible for me, actually,” Bane told NBA.com. “It was not good. But then I got into our first game in the preseason, and I think I had 10 or 12 points, and then backed it up with another double-digit performance like a day or two later. I was like, ‘O.K., I can find a role in this league. I can play in this league.’ Then, once I figured out I could play in this league, it’s like, ‘O.K., how am I going to take my game to the next level and be a guy that can really be a difference-maker?’”
All the while, Bane closely kept watch on each of his peers from the 2020 draft class.
“If there’s an opposing player on the court that got drafted before me, it’s a little motivation for sure,” he said. “And a lot of times, they’re not even on the court. They’re going through those dog days, trying to find their way into the rotation, or whatever the case may be.”
In his return from protocols, Bane pointed out that “every single one” of the Grizzlies’ upcoming opponents drafted a player ahead of him. San Antonio selected Devin Vassell at No. 11. Utah grabbed Udoka Azubuike three spots ahead of Bane at 27. Washington took Deni Avdija ninth, and Philadelphia selected Tyrese Maxey at No. 21.
Interestingly, Maxey pumped in a team-high 33 points Monday in the win over Memphis, including a drive to the rack with 26.4 seconds left to seal the victory. But it’s no coincidence Bane managed to put up a career night in this clash with his 2020 draft counterpart.
Desmond Bane scored a career-best 34 points in a Jan. 31 loss to the Sixers.
“I take it personal, for sure.”
That’s something for 2020 No. 8 pick Obi Toppin to keep in mind ahead of Wednesday’s matchup at Madison Square Garden.
But for now, Bane relishes in the recent past and what’s likely to come in the near future.
In the second quarter of Memphis’ win over Los Angeles on Jan. 9, Bane and Lakers star LeBron James became embroiled in a minor altercation that went viral. Even Grammy award-winning singer Halsey — sitting courtside at the game — chimed in with harsh words about Bane.
“(Laughing) It ain’t [normal], but to me, it’s just basketball,” he said. “LeBron is another basketball player, another competitor trying to win games. We got into what we got into on the court, and obviously, it’s L.A., the Lakers, and LeBron. That’s gonna bring a whole different type of attention. So, it was kind of crazy. My DMs, my girl is getting texts, my people and everybody were calling me asking, ‘Hey, what did he say? What did you say?’ At the end of the day, we’re just two competitors going at it.”
Bane will continue making spirited runs at the game’s stars later this month in Cleveland after being named to the 2022 All-Star Clorox Rising Stars game.
“I was a guy that was gonna go to a Division II school out of high school. So, to tell me that I’d be participating in All-Star weekend would be a dream come true.”
Having recently locked up his first All-Star nod, Morant, has openly campaigned for Bane to win the NBA’s Kia Most Improved Player award.
Morant is coming off his seventh-straight 30-point night, while Bane is averaging 22.5 points in the four games since returning from the league’s Health and Safety Protocols.
“Des can tell you. I always say, ‘Yeah, bro, you’re the goods,’” Morant said back in December. “That’s just him. He’s a professional scorer, can shoot the ball with the best of them, can get downhill, can make plays for others. In this league, to have a guy [in his] second year do that is big time. He’s always asking questions, always watching film, always in the gym, and it’s showing.”
Bane, 23, remains adamant that he wouldn’t take any other route towards arriving at the current stop.
Lightly regarded coming out of Seton Catholic High School (Ind.), Bane received only one Division I offer for college. Then, after finishing his senior season at Texas Christian University as the only player to rank in the top 10 in the Big 12 in points (16.6), rebounds (6.4), and assists (3.9), Bane watched helplessly as teams selected 29 players ahead of him in the 2020 NBA Draft.
Still, Bane quickly answers “no” when asked if he would have liked to traverse this journey differently.
“It starts with our coaching staff, our GM, just finding guys that are about the right things both on and off the court, and guys that are passionate about winning,” Bane said. “I think a lot of these guys in the locker room are underdogs or have been through something to get to this point, and that really shows on the basketball court. That’s just me. I mean, my whole career things haven’t turned out how one would necessarily like for them to turn out. But you make the best of every situation that you’re in. I feel like I’m making the best of this situation, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
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Michael C. Wright is a senior writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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