Grizzlies guard Ja Morant has been cleared for all basketball activities, according to Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Morant, who missed the first 25 games of the 2023/24 season due to a suspension, returned to action in December and immediately provided a spark for the Grizzlies, who won six of nine games with the star point guard in the lineup. However, a labral tear in Morant’s right shoulder ended his season after those nine games. He has been recovering from surgery in the months since then.
The Grizzlies were one of the NBA’s most injury-plagued teams in ’23/24, but head coach Taylor Jenkins told reporters back in April that only Morant projected to have a recovery timeline extending well into the offseason. With a fully healthy roster, there’s optimism in Memphis that the club can bounce back from a 27-55 year and look more like the club that went 107-57 over the previous two regular seasons.
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- Referring to his deal with the Mavericks as a “fresh start,” Klay Thompson told reporters on Tuesday that he’s optimistic about “kind of being rejuvenated” in Dallas, as Tim MacMahon of ESPN details. “Feeling just wanted again, like I bring great value, it just gets me excited to go out there and even work out after this press conference and get shots up,” Thompson said. “Yeah, there was times last year where it was tough, where it wasn’t as joyful as it was in the past. It’s nice to kind of shed that and have a whole new fresh start, whole new group of guys to get to know, co-workers, whole new city. It’s really cool, and I’m going to embrace the heck out of this opportunity.” In a story for The Athletic, Tim Cato takes a look at how Thompson will fit in on the Mavs’ roster.
- Aaron Wiggins‘ new five-year contract with the Thunder is worth $45MM, with $2MM in bonuses that could push it up to the initially reported total of $47MM, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). The deal has a descending structure and includes a fifth-year team option, Scotto adds.
- New Spurs forward Harrison Barnes confirmed on Tuesday that he waived his $3.7MM trade kicker to facilitate his move to San Antonio, calling it a “pretty easy decision” and adding that he’s excited about playing for head coach Gregg Popovich, tweets Andrew Lopez of ESPN.
- New Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija admitted on Monday that he was surprised to be traded by the Wizards, according to Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report (Substack link). “I think they really love me,” Avdija said of his old team. “I’ve done a lot for that organization. It was just not the timeline, I guess.” Now that he has gotten past that initial surprise, the 23-year-old is “excited” about the new opportunity in front of him. “They’ve welcomed me very well, so it’s a good start,” he said. “I’m glad to be in a place where people embrace me and love me. I’m going to bring my competitiveness, and we’re going to have a lot of fun.”
A lot of teams added players this season but there’s none as significant as adding Ja Morant, Marcus Smart, and a full time Desmond Bane to last season’s Memphis squad.
It’s funny. A year ago, people were speculating about where Klay would wind up if he left the Warriors. Everyone was adamant that it would be LA or Portland. I thought it some place with a large body of water nearby. He loves sailing/boating. I guess everyone was wrong.
Portland’s not a coastal city although it’s a little closer to large body of water then Dallas but you’re still a good hour and half from the Pacific whereas Dallas is about 3 hours to the Gulf.
Actually, Portland sits on the Columbia River. And small cruise ships, and freighter, travel as far east as Idaho.
I use to live just outside of Portland and currently live in Idaho so I’m aware of that. Some cruise ships are supposed to start coming to Lewiston Idaho next year but container rarely go to there anymore. It may surprise you to know but you can go sailing in Dallas, there’s about as much opportunity there as there is in Portland however neither off the opportunities for open water cruising like the Bay Area or Los Angeles.
Oh, I don’t doubt that there are plenty of opportunities to go sailing in Dallas. I would have thrown in the possibilities of Klay going to Miami, New Orleans, Sacramento (There is a dock about a 1/4 mile from their arena). He also likes to Salmon fish…My only point is that we can all speculate. But, we will probably get it wrong. I am not excluding myself.
Lol, I can agree on that one, salmon fishing doesn’t get much better than the Columbia River and as far as I know there’s not that much opportunity in Dallas. There just not much in Portland from a basketball standpoint for a veteran free agent.
You think “everyone” was adamant Klay was going to LA or Portland.
What are you talking about?
Nobody in the comments section of Hoopsrumors talked about him going any other place. Everyone thought family ties would be the deciding factor. What did you read? Nobody was talking about Dallas.
A lot of fans were however correct that Warriors were willing to let him walk because of his poor play, and wanting youngsters to play and develop.
Klay went from one head case to another…
Must of been a really bad culture in the Warriors…