A day after Chandler Parsons’ agent offered a new twist to the ongoing saga involving his client and the Memphis Grizzlies, the $94-million man in the middle of it all had a lot he wanted to say.

So Parsons finished up morning shootaround ahead of Saturday’s game against the Boston Celtics, the 32nd game in a row he won’t play in, and decided to speak for the first time about the off-court drama that’s preventing him from making a return.

“The most confusing part for me is I’m healthy,” Parsons told The Commercial Appeal. “I’m medically cleared by the people I work with every single day, that are experts at this kind of stuff, so it’s frustrating to watch a team struggle and I’m sitting there on the bench healthy, dying to play.”

What stopped Chandler Parsons' return?

Welcome back to the soap opera that is the Parsons era in Memphis.

Pardon me Grizzlies fans if you’ve heard a version of this story over the past two years. But this time it comes with more of a disconnect between player and front office than ever before.

Parsons says he’s ready to play basketball again. Parsons says his teammates and coaches are ready for him to play basketball again. But Parsons also says Memphis general manager Chris Wallace thinks otherwise.

And both sides are perfectly reasonable for taking the position they’re taking.

Let’s start with Parsons, who said Saturday he spoke recently with Wallace.

This all started during the third game of the regular season, on Oct. 22 in Utah, once Parsons made it through all of training camp, appeared in every preseason game and earned a spot in the Grizzlies’ starting lineup.

That’s when his knee problems resurfaced.

Parsons and the Grizzlies medical staff targeted a Dec. 21 game at Sacramento as when he would return from the right knee soreness. His entire rehab process was geared toward returning on that date.

“Then they kind of put an end to that,” Parsons said.

The “they” here is Wallace and the Grizzlies’ front office, and it's the source of all the tension from Parsons' perspective.

Parsons confirmed that Wallace wanted to see him play five-on-five in practice, which Parsons said he’s done for two weeks now without feeling any lingering soreness in his knee. Parsons said Wallace also asked him to go down to the G-League “for a really long time, but didn’t tell me how long. Which also wasn’t going to happen.”

Parsons was willing to play a game or two in Southaven for the Memphis Hustle, but the scheduling didn’t work out because the Hustle weren’t in town.

“It’s just been a very unorganized schedule and still, to this day, there’s no set plan of when I’m going to return to play or anything like that,” Parsons said before elaborating on why he’s so frustrated by the situation.

“No communication. No nothing. I don’t think it’s from a basketball standpoint. It’s definitely not from a health standpoint. I’ve been cleared by the medical staff of our organization, and clearly it’s not about fitting. I already earned a starting spot out of training camp and have shown I can fit with the team. I think the confusion for me is there’s no communication about what’s going on and when I’m going to play.”

What's the Memphis Grizzlies point of view?

There will be plenty of fans who crack sarcastic jokes about all this.

That Parsons will never be healthy again.

That he’s stealing money from the Grizzlies.

That the franchise should just cut its losses and figure out a way to get rid of him, even if that means sending him home and waiving him via the stretch provision this offseason.

Those fans may end up being right, too.

But you know who doesn’t think Parsons is a lost cause? Grizzlies coach J.B. Bickerstaff, and it makes all this even more delicate.

Bickerstaff told me Saturday he had “nothing to say” about Parsons’ current predicament. And who could blame the first-time head coach for not wanting to rile up a front office known for having a quick trigger with its coaches?

But he’s long been one of Parsons’ advocates and I believe Parsons when he says Bickerstaff wants him back in the lineup. The Grizzlies need someone else who can consistently knock down an outside shot and Parsons, when healthy, can fill that void.

When healthy, of course, is the obvious caveat. Which is why Wallace’s stance in all this is understandable.

Wallace last spoke to the media on Dec. 15 and said this when asked about Parsons: “Chandler is working his way back from his knee injury and is very diligent and putting the time in, and we’ll see where he is in the next few weeks.”



The Grizzlies disrupted their chemistry to include Parsons in the rotation the past two years only to watch him go down to injury shortly after returning. The start of this season was only the latest example.

In the middle of an uber-competitive playoff race in the Western Conference, where every win and loss alters the standings, can Memphis afford to do that again?

Apparently Wallace doesn’t think so.

This is the impasse we’ve arrived at now, and it makes you wonder if there is a happy ending to be had in this whole situation.

It doesn’t seem like the Parsons the Grizzlies' front office hoped for when they signed him to a $94-million contract will ever materialize. And it doesn’t seem like the Grizzlies front office feels they have much use for the Parsons they have now.

Can this eventually be rectified? Parsons still hopes so.

“Look, I’m over here trying to help our team win in any way I can,” Parsons said. “I’m not a distraction. I get along with everybody on the team. I love the coaching staff. I love the medical staff. So it’s just confusing as to why I can’t play and help our team, who is clearly struggling and could use me right now. But yeah, I hope to salvage it. I hope to play as soon as possible and help our team win as many games as possible.”

INJURY UPDATE:Chandler Parsons cleared and 'dying to play' for Memphis Grizzlies again, according to agent