NOVEMBER 27: Morant has been diagnosed with a left knee sprain following preliminary imaging, the Grizzlies announced late on Friday night (Twitter link).
The Grizzlies will conduct further tests on Saturday, but assuming that initial diagnosis is confirmed, it’s great news for the team and for the star point guard, who were fearing a more significant injury, says ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links).
Memphis should get a better idea of a potential recovery timeline for Morant once Saturday’s tests are completed and the club can fully assess the severity of the sprain, Woj adds.
NOVEMBER 26: Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant suffered a left knee injury Friday night against Atlanta and will not return to the game, per Rob Fischer of Bally Sports (Twitter link, with a video link underneath).
Morant immediately started limping after an awkward step and was holding his knee on the sidelines before being taken to the locker room with the help of training staff. John Collins appeared to make very minor contact with his right leg, but it’s not clear if that had anything to do with the injury.
Ja was able to return to the team’s bench and was walking on his own, without crutches, according to Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian (via Twitter). Hopefully that’s a good sign that it’s not major, but testing will determine the specific nature of the injury. Morant sent out this tweet after the game, indicating that his status is up in the air.
Morant is one of the most exciting players in the league to watch and has had an outstanding start to the season. Through 18 games (33.9 MPG), he’s averaged 25.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 7.1 APG and 1.7 SPG.
Wishing Temetrius a speedy recovery.
I learned something today thank you
Please be a minor injury!
Sounds like it is, hopefully he won’t be out too long.
Grizz really aren’t much. Without Ja. Let him rest, get healthy player.