MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Grizzlies general manager and executive vice president of basketball operations Zach Kleiman took sole responsibility for the surprise firing of coach Taylor Jenkins on Friday.

"I came to the conclusion that this is in the best interest of the team, and urgency is a core principle of ours, so decided to go on with the move," Kleiman said Saturday, speaking publicly for the first time since Jenkins' dismissal while his team had shootaround in preparation for its game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Kleiman said he did not speak to anyone on the roster before letting Jenkins go.

"The players were not consulted on this decision," Kleiman said. "This decision is mine and mine only."

Jenkins, 40, coached Memphis to a 250-214 record (.539) in nearly six full seasons and a 44-29 record this season -- No. 5 in the Western Conference with nine games remaining in the regular season at the time of his dismissal.

But the Grizzlies had lost four of their past five by an average margin of 16.8 points and had gone 8-12 in their past 20 games.

Kleiman, 37, was elevated to his current role in charge of the Memphis front office in April 2019. Jenkins was hired two months later after six seasons as an assistant coach in Atlanta and Milwaukee under Mike Budenholzer.

The general manager said Jenkins "leaves the team in a much better position than when he started" but would not address what prompted him to fire the coach at this juncture of the season.

"In this case, I am going to leave it that I of course gave this real thought and came to the conclusion that this is in the best interest of our team going forward," Kleiman said.

Tuomas Iisalo, named the 2024 EuroCup Coach of the Year for his work leading Paris Basketball, was named the Grizzlies' interim head coach. His first game resulted in a 134-127 loss to the Lakers.

"There's clearly noise now around the team and that's something that can also be a destabilizing factor for the whole team. And we just talked about it like control the controllables, there will be other talking points hopefully in a few days and let's do what we do best, which is our own job," Iisalo told reporters before the game, with reference to him meeting with the team earlier. "And then, we talked about also the time constraints, what we want to do that, how we want to approach it day by day. One practice at a time."

Kleiman is optimistic.

"Looking forward to seeing what he is able to do with this group," he said of Iisalo. "There is realistic expectations. There's not going to be time to install a bunch of things this time of the year. My expectations are clarity of direction, and we'll see what we can do, we'll see what we can execute."

Asked if the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs would be an audition for Iisalo to fully assume the role of coaching the team, Kleiman sidestepped the question.

"We're focused on the Lakers tonight," Kleiman said.