Ja Morant’s sprained shoulder places a hitch within the resurgent Grizzlies’ trip again to the playoffs.
On Monday, Memphis introduced Morant suffered a proper shoulder sprain in the course of the group’s 132-124 Friday night time win towards the Pelicans and is taken into account week-to-week.
As the Associated Press noted, he suffered a torn labrum in the identical shoulder final season, ending his season after solely 9 video games on Jan. 5, 2024.
The Grizzlies had the league’s worst harm luck final season, ensuing of their ugly 27-55 document, snapping the franchise’s streak of three consecutive playoff appearances.
Morant has began 20 video games this season and is second on the group in scoring (21.2 factors per sport), trailing heart Jaren Jackson Jr. (21.6 factors per sport).
Morant leads the Grizzlies in assists (7.9) whereas additionally averaging 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 steals per sport.
The Grizzlies are 8-5 with out Morant this season, however seven of these wins have come towards groups with dropping data.
Backup level guard Scotty Pippen Jr. has stuffed in admirably in 12 begins, averaging 14.6 factors, 6.2 assists and 4.3 rebounds per sport.
Nonetheless, dropping Morant can be a key take a look at for the Grizzlies (22-11, second within the Western Convention). Over the following week, they play the Suns (15-16, eleventh in Western Convention), Kings (13-19, twelfth in Western Convention) and Warriors (16-15, ninth in Western Convention) on the highway and the Mavericks (20-12, fourth in Western Convention) at house.
If Morant’s absence extends past January 6, 2025, Memphis may additionally be with out its lead guard for video games towards the Rockets (21-11, third in Western Convention) on Jan. 9 and 13 and the Timberwolves (17-14, eighth in Western Convention) on Jan. 11.
The Grizzlies had been blown out, 130-106, by the Thunder (26-5, first in Western Convention) on Sunday of their first sport since Morant’s shoulder harm.
Memphis flunked its first examination. The following couple of weeks will reveal Morant’s value.
