When the NBA playoffs started earlier this month, 19-year-old Zinzy was dissatisfied that the Memphis Grizzlies, his favourite group, weren’t within the combine.
The Grizzlies have been contemporary off a 25-game, rebuilding season and have been on the surface trying in for the primary time in years.
So, he had a goofy thought — what if he jokingly live-tweeted a pretend playoff sequence, as a gimmick?
At first, he was planning on doing so with a superb good friend who was a Phoenix Suns fan, who was frightened that his group would possibly miss the playoffs, too.
“We have been speaking, and I used to be like, ‘Wouldn’t or not it’s so humorous in case you obtained knocked out, in case you didn’t qualify for the playoffs, and we simply did this pretend playoff sequence in our heads?’” Zinzy informed SB Nation. “And he was like, ‘Yeah, that may be cool.’ After which, they made the playoffs finally, and I used to be similar to, that type of sucks.”
However, after eager about it a bit bit extra, he determined to do it anyway. Partly, as a result of it’d be humorous. And, partially, as a result of it was one thing to convey collectively a group that had lengthy meant a lot to him.
The remaining was historical past — since his first Warriors-Grizzlies Tweets on April 18th, tens of 1000’s of NBA followers have posted Tweets and shared Instagram posts reacting to an NBA playoff sequence that isn’t truly happening.
How on earth did we get right here?
The story truly begins six years in the past, in Nigeria
In 2020, Zinzy was a 13-year-old dwelling in Nigeria who had by no means even taking a liking to basketball.
“I used to be very blind to the game, proper?” he recalled. “I used to be like, basketball is boring.”
Then, one evening, a good friend of his dragged him to observe a Grizzlies recreation on tv at 2 am. Nearly instantly, he discovered himself enthralled, drawn to the Grizzlies’ bright-blue uniforms and captivated by rising famous person Ja Morant.
After doing his homework, he discovered that the franchise had by no means received an NBA title and had not had a ton of success relative to different groups. And, in a humorous method, that made him need to grow to be a Grizzlies fan much more.
“I did some analysis on all of the groups. And I used to be like, ‘The Grizzlies don’t have any championships.’ And I really like that. It sounds dumb saying it aloud. However, if I may go help a group, and I really feel like I’m a part of the larger a part of their historical past once they’re successful, then that may positively really feel good.”
Since 2020, there have been loads of highs and loads of lows. The Grizzlies made the playoffs 4 occasions in 5 years. They noticed Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr, and Desmond Bane all grow to be stars. Since that first watch, Zinzy estimates he’s watched greater than 70% of Grizzlies video games.
However the 2025-2026 season was a troublesome one. They traded away Bane within the offseason and Jackson Jr. forward of the midseason commerce deadline. Now, it seems prefer it might be the top of the highway for Morant, too, with commerce rumors circling the purpose guard all season.
So, on the heels of such a tough season and the fanbase in flux, Zinzy considered the gimmick as one thing foolish that might convey the fanbase collectively.
The 2026 Warriors-Grizzlies playoff sequence started in a dorm room
One evening, whereas finding out for his remaining exams on the College of Manitoba in Canada, the place he research environmental design, he randomly started to live-tweet a pretend sequence between the Grizzlies and the Warriors.
“I simply obtained this concept, like – I can nonetheless do that alone,” Zinzy mentioned. “I can do it on Twitter, proper? So I simply, I tweeted pretend stats of Ja and Steph in a Recreation 1 battle. Then proper after that, a few days later, I made a decision to pretend live-tweet Recreation 2 out of nowhere.”
He didn’t assume a lot of it at first.
However, slowly however certainly, different main fan accounts on NBA Twitter determined to get in on the bit. It helped that a number of Warriors fan accounts with big-time followings, like @WarriorsMuse and @BasketballPerformances, additionally jumped in and partook within the fictional sequence joke.
The entire thing actually blew up on Monday evening, when Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. have been truly sitting courtside at an Orlando Magic playoff recreation to help their outdated Grizzlies teammate, Desmond Bane.
The printed saved panning over to Morant and Jackson Jr. every time they celebrated a Bane triple, and finally, followers flocked to social media to publish pictures of Morant and Jackson Jr, jokingly writing captions alongside the traces of: “What are they doing?? They’ve a recreation tomorrow!”
“I simply seen my timeline speaking about, ‘Don’t they’ve a recreation?’” Zinzy mentioned. “And I used to be like, ‘That is loopy. Like, why achieve this many individuals get the reference?’
Since that evening, even official accounts like Time beyond regulation have gotten in on the joke. Zinzy has aligned the schedule of his pretend Warriors-Grizzlies sequence with the continuing Houston Rockets sequence in opposition to the Los Angeles Lakers sequence. He’s additionally gained greater than 4,000 followers because the gimmick started virtually two weeks in the past.
Above all, the joke has introduced pleasure and levity after what was a tough season for diehard Memphis followers.
“I watched each recreation that I may,” he mentioned. “And it’s loopy, as a result of a few of them, we have been tanking… And I’ve tried, consider me, I’ve tried to detach myself from this group. I imply, the group is so dangerous. I say it on a regular basis I might be doing loads of different issues with my time — after which I might nonetheless come house, put up my TV, sit down for 2, two and a half hours, and watch us lose by thirty.”
He’s having fun with seeing that the joke he started in his dorm room only a few weeks in the past has introduced laughter to so many Grizzlies followers. The fanbase has supplied him with an immense sense of group as he moved from Nigeria to Canada for school just a few years in the past. He used to livestream video games with a number of different Grizzlies fan accounts, and at this time, he’s in a number of completely different group chats with 1000’s of different followers.
“We don’t simply work together on the timeline,” Zinzy mentioned. “We truly be a part of teams, be a part of DMs, we discuss different issues exterior of sports activities, discuss life. It’s only a very nice group. They don’t choose.
He’s by no means truly made it to Memphis, however that’s a dream he hopes to see realized sooner somewhat than later.
“The fanbase has been among the finest teams of individuals I’ve ever met – in actual life, Twitter, TikTok, it’s nice individuals all over the place.”
Zinzy is making ready for an important Recreation 6 between the Grizzlies and Warriors, which suggestions off on Friday.
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