Draymond Green joins Anthony Edwards in criticizing Memphis hotels. A sprinkler system malfunction drenched gear, highlighting a pattern of poor accommodations for visiting NBA stars.
It's no secret that star-caliber free agents have rarely viewed Memphis as an ideal destination to showcase their talents. Now, with the Grizzlies seemingly drifting into a rebuilding phase — having traded away key core players, lacking a clear identity and facing real uncertainty around Ja Morant's future — concerns about the organization's reputation appear to be growing even stronger.
Those concerns got louder when Anthony Edwards shared his experience of staying in Memphis, describing what he felt were some of the worst hotel conditions he has encountered on the road. He even mentioned visible dirt and stains on the bed. Draymond Green wasn't far behind, piling on with his own stories and reinforcing the idea that visiting Memphis can be a genuinely unpleasant experience — and not just because of what happens on the court.
The Minnesota Timberwolves superstar didn't need much prompting when asked which city gave him the worst hotel experience on the road. He didn't hesitate.
"When we go to Memphis, I be like, 'Damn.' Them hotels ain't nothing in Memphis. Them s**ts be dirty. I walked into Memphis hotel one time, I had stains and s–t on the bed," Edwards said. "They ain't broken in, shoutout Memphis."
Blunt, specific and entirely on brand. Edwards was careful not to make it about the city itself — his issue was with what he personally found inside the room. The "shoutout" at the end was classic Edwards, equal parts shade and sincerity, delivered without much apology.
Green, a longtime advocate for better player treatment given the grind of constant travel, knew exactly what Edwards was talking about. He compared Memphis to cities like Detroit — acknowledging that not every road stop is glamorous — but argued that Memphis has consistently fallen below the standard most NBA cities provide for visiting players. His point was simple: when you're asking elite athletes to perform night after night, the baseline for recovery and rest matters.
"Memphis definitely has the worst hotels in the league, no question. They just don't have the bigger brand hotels like all the rest of the NBA cities do. We had an issue there where we used to stay at one hotel in Memphis, and this dates back," the former DPOY said on his podcast. "Ant-Man is pretty blunt about it, but yeah… We stopped staying there because their sprinklers just went off for no reason in the room and, like, drenched all of Andrew Bogut's stuff. Like the sprinkler system, like it was a fire, just went off. Drenched all Bogut's stuff, and they didn't want to do anything about it."
Green did acknowledge that things in Memphis have gotten better over the years. But his larger point stood — compared to the rest of the league, players still run into more problems there more often than anywhere else.
Whether that means upgrading accommodation standards for visiting teams or reshaping the franchise's identity on the court, something needs to change. As long as stories like these keep circulating, it becomes harder for the organization to move public perception in a different direction.
Hopefully Green and Edwards' comments are taken for what they are — not shots at the city, but honest feedback from two players who have seen every NBA market there is. The kind of feedback that, if anyone's paying attention, could actually lead to something better.