During his 10-day contract with the Washington Wizards, Trey Jemison made his NBA debut. But the former UAB center got only 1:29 of court time in two games.

That contract expired on Monday. But instead of returning to the Birmingham Squadron of the NBA G League, Jemison signed another NBA 10-day contract, and in his first opportunity to play for the Memphis Grizzlies, he did.

On Thursday night, Jemison played 13:34 in Memphis’ 108-101 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He made both his shots and his only free throw for his first NBA points and also recorded three rebounds and his first NBA blocked shot.

“I loved it,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said when asked about Jemison after the game. “He came out with energy. I thought the communication was great. He’s only had one day with us, and overall I thought his running habits were pretty good. He did a great job of setting screens and rolling and creating advantages, collapsing the defense. He came up with a couple of loose balls that weren’t even rebounds that I thought was really impressive. We used a coverage tonight that we would sprinkle in every once in a while knowing that would, hopefully, be beneficial against the Cavs with their dynamic handlers, and I thought he did a real good job and continued to clean some stuff up. He tried to make the necessary adjustments.

“But played hard, played well, played the right way. Something to build off of.”

Jemison laid in a pass from Santi Aldama for a layup and added a free throw for a three-point play that gave the Grizzlies a 39-30 lead with 7:47 left in the second quarter.

That basket came after Jemison’s first NBA bucket had been waved off because of an offensive-goaltending call on teammate Scottie Pippen Jr.

Jemison scored again on a putback dunk as Memphis took a 74-72 lead with 3:32 left in the third quarter.

The Grizzlies outscored the Cavaliers by four points when Jemison was on the floor.

Seventy-three seconds after making his Memphis debut in the first quarter, Jemison recorded his first NBA block when he swatted away a shot by 6-foot-11 center Jarrett Allen at the basket, then challenged a 3-point miss by Max Strus, who had corralled the loose ball.

The Grizzlies have another home game on Friday, when they take on the Golden State Warriors at 7 p.m. CST.

Jemison was among three players signed to 10-day contracts by Memphis after the NBA granted the Grizzlies three hardship roster exemptions. Memphis got relief because of it had 11 players miss its game on Monday, including four of its top five scorers.

An Alabama prep star at Homewood and Hoover, Jemison played two seasons at Clemson and three at UAB. He set the Blazers’ single-season record with 329 rebounds in the 2022-23 campaign.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.