LeBron James-Grizzlies beef, explained: How 'disrespectful' taunts and Shannon Sharpe fueled new Lakers rivalry

There's been a rivalry brewing between the Lakers and Grizzlies for some time now. With the two teams set to meet in the opening round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs, it may be time to consider the rivalry official.

With budding superstar Ja Morant at the forefront, Memphis is an up-and-coming team that has a penchant for talking and a tendency to back it up with their play. Unsurprisingly, that talking has drawn the ire of some opponents, including LeBron James and company.

Rewind three years and the Lakers' downfall following their NBA title coincided with the Grizzlies' rise toward prominence as a budding title contender. Now, the teams are set to face in the NBA Playoffs, with LA eyeing an upset.

Somewhere along the way, a beef was born, complete with taunts, plenty of trash talk, and altercations involving Hall of Fame NFL tight ends.

Seriously.

To get to the bottom of where it all started, let's investigate the beef.

PLAYOFF PREVIEW: Can Lakers pull off upset against Grizzlies?

LeBron James-Grizzlies beef timeline

Who doesn't appreciate a good taunt? The person on the receiving end, probably.

In early January of 2021, the defending champion Lakers were in a close battle with the Grizzlies in Memphis. As winning time approached, LA put the ball in the hands of James, who was flanked by Dillon Brooks.

While Brooks has always been a competitor and has grown into becoming Memphis' defensive stopper in recent years, James made sure to let him — and everyone watching — know that he didn't quite measure up with multiple "too small" taunts.

Is this the genesis of the beef? Who knows, but I doubt Brooks took kindly to being called "too small."

Fast forward a year to January 2022 and this time, the Grizzlies are one of the league's top teams visiting a struggling Lakers team in Los Angeles. After converting an and-one, Desmond Bane made the decision to nudge James, who definitely didn't take it in stride.

The chippiness resulted in James going right back at Bane on the very next possession.

The back-and-forth in that moment was only the beginning, as floor microphones picked up a colorful exchange between the Grizzlies and James, who was irked by what he took as disrespect from his opponent.

(Warning: clip contains strong language)

After feeling disrespected by Bane, James didn't waste much time channeling his anger with a dunk on Jaren Jackson Jr., who seems to have gotten the worst end of the deal, though Memphis had built an impressive lead.

In January of 2023, things took a different type of turn, as the proceedings on the court spilled over to the sidelines.

MORE: Why Dillon Brooks thinks he's cracked the LeBron James code

What did Shannon Sharpe say to Dillon Brooks?

Remember what I said about Memphis' tendency to talk? This time around, the trash talk reached Hall of Famer (and known LeBron superfan) Shannon Sharpe.

A back-and-forth between Sharpe and Brooks resulted in the majority of the Grizzlies roster being involved, as well as Ja Morant's father, Tee.

ESPN video of Shannon and the Grizz + Tee Morant pic.twitter.com/wSbKc1jLz1

— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) January 21, 2023

As it pertains to Sharpe and the elder Morant, cooler heads prevailed.

It's all love between Shannon Sharpe and Tee Morant. pic.twitter.com/iSNeikINp1

— ESPN (@espn) January 21, 2023

And while Brooks refused to talk about Sharpe, calling the NFL legend a "blogger," he did, talk at length about defending James, who he says "doesn't want to go left," citing that as the blueprint for limiting the NBA's all-time leading scorer.

Dillon Brooks on defending LeBron: “He doesn’t want to go left. I was just making him go left all game. Then he would settle or he would pass the ball. And then play physical with him. Continuously bump him all of the time. And don’t let him take easy shots.” pic.twitter.com/zE7zlhAVo5

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) January 21, 2023

Since Brooks' rookie year in 2017, he's gone head-to-head with James 11 times. James is averaging 25.2 points on 52.2 percent shooting in those games and his team holds a 9-2 record over the Grizzlies when both players are active.

On the other hand, the Grizzlies have won three of their last four over the Lakers, with the first of three meetings this season going to LA.

As the Grizzlies and Lakers prepare to meet two times in as many weeks, we'll see if there will be any more trash talk and if there's been any more love lost between involved parties.

WATCH LAKERS-GRIZZLIES WITHOUT CABLE ON SLING TV (U.S. ONLY)

Lakers vs. Grizzlies NBA Playoff series schedule

*Games 5-7 if necessary.