Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
During an apperance on the Bob Does Sports YouTube channel — host Robby Berger actually got his media start here at BroBible — NBA legend LeBron James sparked a viral conversation about the Grizzlies’ location after disparaging the city of Memphis. It turns out, however, that LeBron isn’t the only one who feels this way.
“I’m f——41 years of age. You think I want to do s in Memphis on a random a– Thursday? I’m not the first guy in the NBA to talk about this,” James said.
“We all like, ‘You guys have to move.’ Just go over to Nashville. You got Vanderbilt over there, you got f—— NASCAR, you got a stadium. Don’t they got a hockey team too? Like, they’ve got everything.”
After LeBron’s viral comments on Bob Does Sports, a nearly 3-minute-long compilation video has been circulating online featuring NBA players and personalities unloading on Memphis as a road destination, with their issues ranging from dirty hotel rooms to safety concerns to the city’s general lack of appeal as a place to spend a night off.
The video features NBA stars such as Kevin Durant, Anthony Edwards, Draymond Green, Derrick White, Danny Green, Channing Frye, Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson all making negative comments about having to play in Memphis.
Lengthy compilation video shows multiple NBA stars bashing the city of Memphis and bemoaning having to play the Grizzlies there
They really hate that hotel pic.twitter.com/TooDK5hHRO
— kingtisemedia (@kingtisemedia) April 3, 2026
https://t.co/J135aWxU3m https://t.co/VmYO3rOoK4 pic.twitter.com/ibzJo7dZod
— kingtisemedia (@kingtisemedia) April 3, 2026
ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith has previously weighed in on how NBA players feel about Memphis, claiming that top free agents don’t feel safe in the city.
“It’s a great sports town, great fans, great people,” Smith said. “But there’s an element there where cats like Jimmy Butler and others don’t feel it’s the safest environment. You’ve got to clean some of that stuff up because it’s dissuasive to NBA players.”