The Grizzlies have capped an 11-game winning streak this January (now 12 of 13 after Grizzlies-Bulls) and have done so with difficulty. They have been seen without Ja Morant in some of them and with the injury of Dillon Brooks for the next dates. In one of the matchups, the Clippers in Los Angeles, they were left without a head coach. Taylor Jenkins had to isolate himself in a hotel in the Californian city a couple of hours before this meeting and remain there during his due quarantine. That loss, not that of the players but that of the bench, has opened a gap for someone who has been waiting for a long time for an opportunity to continue progressing and who is not so well known even locally. Darko Rajakovic is the person who has taken the lead and raised the aforementioned positive streak above ten, making it one of the most consistent of the season in the NBA.
Rajakovic is one of the most powerful assistant coaches. Having been infected before and left before the protocol against COVID is what has earned him this curious opportunity.
Rajakovic has been making progress in the NBA for the past few years. Memphis is the place where he now develops his activity after a long road full of experiences.
It is Serbian from 42 years he’s responsible for Desmond Bane’s prominent new role in the Grizzlies’ rotation, slightly displacing Tyus Jones as a builder next to star Ja Morant. He is one of those who has also been able to integrate Steven Adams, with whom he had coincided in the Thunder. That is one of the places where he has stopped during these years. He comes from the Suns, where he spent a year with a Monty Williams whom he also knew from Oklahoma City. In the Thunder he spent five years and it was his first experience as a coach in the NBA, although he had slipped into the circuit in another way. The Spurs, experts in finding talent outside the United States, made him a contract as a scout in the midst of their triumphs, in 2004, and had it until 2011. During those years in which the connection with the NBA was only casual, for consultation, he made a career on the bench: from his native Serbia, being in the quarries of Borak Cacak and Red Star, he went to Torrelodones, a town in Madrid where he trained the local team for three courses. His connection with the benches of the United States took place after his time in Spain: in the D-League with the help of Tulsa 66ers (Oklahoma City Thunder affiliate). At the national team level, he was with Serbia in the last World Cup, in 2019, as an assistant.
