Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant is expected to miss the next three to five weeks recovering from a left ankle injury, the team announced today (via Twitter). According to the Grizzlies, Morant was diagnosed with a Grade 2 sprain after undergoing tests today.
The 21-year-old suffered the injury on Monday night in the second quarter of Memphis’ game vs. the Nets, when he landed on Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot‘s foot while trying to contest a shot. He left the court area on a wheelchair.
While the injury could have been worse, it’s still an unfortunate setback for Morant, who was looking to build off his Rookie of the Year campaign and was off to a strong start this season. In his two full games before suffering the injury on Monday, he averaged 36.0 PPG and 8.0 APG on .583/.333/.813 shooting.
With Morant sidelined, the Grizzlies will have to lean more heavily on Tyus Jones in the short term. De’Anthony Melton also should see an uptick in minutes once he clears the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
That’s a drag. The West is stacked. Memphis is going to have a lot of ground to make up by the time they get healthy.
West
Team leader miss 3-5 weeks = lottery
Wolves would be the same
This is so unfair how could Memphis let this happen to their star
It just happens sometimes he went up to block a shot and landed on a foot
I’m just glad is wasn’t worse. Just get healthy
Sucks but Memphis are not contenders with Jaren Jackson out too..they need one more star or high upside lottery player to make some noise
devastating
He got that ROY last year instead of my prediction, this injury.
36ppg! I guess he should have been relaxing a bit. Skinny calves, explosive
hope he doesn’t end up like drose, his aggressive style might be a detriment to him in the future. regardless, morant is going to be a perennial all star