The Grizzlies have added 29-year-old coach Julius Thomas to their staff, head coach Tuomas Iisalo said at media day on Sept. 28.
Thomas and Iisalo have extensive history together. Thomas joined Iisalo's staff at Telekom Baskets Bonn before following him to Paris Basketball when Iisalo became head coach there in 2023. Paris won the EuroCup that season, which helped springboard Iisalo to NBA as he joined Taylor Jenkins' staff as an assistant.
Iisalo became Grizzlies' head coach after Jenkins was fired in 2025.
Thomas stayed at Paris and worked under Tiago Splitter during the 2024-25 season. Splitter later left to join the Blazers, where he was interim coach in 2025-26. He has since been named head coach of the Bulls.
In 2026, Paris fired Francesco
Tabellini and Thomas was named interim head coach. He became the youngest-ever coach in the EuroLeague and was with the team for the rest of the season.
"He will work mostly on the offensive side as kind of my right hand man," Iisalo said. "He has extensive knowledge of that system. His biggest challenge is similar to when I came over, just learning the NBA, understanding the schedule and what you're able to do in a very short amount of time and all the cultural differences that go between those two."
The Grizzlies begin preseason play on Oct. 5 against the Hawks and begin the regular season at home against the Jazz on Oct. 21.
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Grizzlies hire 29-year-old Julius Thomas as assistant coach under Tuomas Iisalo
