Grizzlies guard Ja Morant suffered an injury to his right hand and wrist midway through the fourth quarter of Game 1 against the Lakers on Sunday (ESPN video link).
X-rays were negative but “he’s in some pain,” coach Taylor Jenkins told Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link) and other media members afterward. The medical staff is still evaluating his hand and wrist. Morant already had a nagging injury to the hand before he crashed into Anthony Davis and was called for charging.
Morant said he re-injured his hand, not his wrist, on the play. Asked if there’s a chance he won’t be able to play in Game 2, Morant responded “yes,” Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian tweets. Game 2 is scheduled to be played on Wednesday in Memphis.
If Morant needs to miss any games, it would obviously be a huge blow to the Grizzlies’ chances to advancing. The seventh-seeded Lakers took complete command after Morant departed to the locker room and collected a 128-112 victory. No. 2 seed Memphis is already playing without starting center Steven Adams, who is expected to miss the entire postseason due to a knee injury.
Morant had a rough outing prior to the injury. He scored 18 points in 30 minutes but only had two assists, compared to six turnovers.
Grizzlies star Ja Morant has filed a countersuit against the teenager he punched during a pickup game last summer, arguing that false statements by the teen could cost him an All-NBA berth and his chance at a super-max payday, reports Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. The teen’s initial lawsuit named Morant as the instigator of the incident and said that the Grizzlies guard went into his home and came back with a gun tucked into his pants, both claims that Morant denies. Regardless of whether those allegations are true or false, Morant’s suit makes a dubious argument, since the eight-game suspension that may cost him an All-NBA spot (and upwards of $39MM) was the result of a separate gun-related incident.
After calling for your predictions for the four first round series in the Eastern Conference earlier in the day, we’re pivoting to the West this afternoon.
Here are the four first round series in the Western Conference:
Denver Nuggets (1) vs. Minnesota Timberwolves (8)
Unlike in the East, where there are a handful of overwhelming favorites at the top of the conference, the Western Conference field appears more wide open as the playoffs begin. The Nuggets are heavily favored in this series, but their betting line (-550, per BetOnline.ag) isn’t anywhere close to the -1200 and -1300 lines we were seeing in the East.
As good as the Nuggets were this season, they weren’t playing their best basketball down the stretch, having lost five of their last seven games and 10 of their last 17 entering the postseason. The Timberwolves, meanwhile, had a disappointing year, but have a lot of high-end talent on their roster, including three-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns, three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, and ascendant All-Star Anthony Edwards.
A Timberwolves team playing to its full potential could give Denver trouble, but we haven’t seen that often this season. It would be a major upset if Tim Connelly‘s new team can get past his old one.
Memphis Grizzlies (2) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (7)
After incorporating their trade-deadline acquisitions on February 11, the Lakers went 18-8 to close the regular season, which would translate to a 57-win pace over 82 games.
Throw in the fact that LeBron James and Anthony Davis are relatively healthy and two key members of the Grizzlies‘ frontcourt (Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke) aren’t, and it’s easy to understand why Memphis is only a slight favorite (-142) over Los Angeles (+122) in this series.
Still, the Grizzlies had the best net rating (+4.0) in the West this season and history is working in their favor — as John Hollinger of The Athletic writes, the NBA’s No. 7 and No. 8 playoff seeds have lost 95 of 100 first round series in the last 25 years. Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and company won’t be intimidated by the Lakers’ star power.
Sacramento Kings (3) vs. Golden State Warriors (6)
The Kings‘ reward for snapping a 16-season playoff drought is a first-round matchup against the defending champions, who have won titles in four of the last eight years.
The Warriors‘ impressive track record in the postseason has made them betting favorites (-265) in this series over Sacramento (+225). Golden State has had an up-and-down year, but has a huge experience edge in this matchup and seemed to be hitting its stride at the right time in the season’s final weeks. With Andrew Wiggins set to be available for Game 1, the roster is at full strength and will present a tough challenge for the higher-seeded Kings.
Still, the Kings have been exceeding expectations all season long, and their home crowd should be whipped into a frenzy for the first NBA playoff basketball in Sacramento since 2006. This has a chance to be a very fun series.
Phoenix Suns (4) vs. Los Angeles Clippers (5)
The key for both of these star-studded rosters is staying healthy. Suns forward Kevin Durant and guard Chris Paul have battled multiple injuries over the years, including this season, as have Clippers forwards Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. The Suns have the health advantage entering this series, with George considered unlikely to play vs. Phoenix as he recovers from a sprained knee.
Even if PG13 can return to action before the series ends, the Clippers will be in tough against a Phoenix team that has looked incredibly dangerous with Durant on the court. The former MVP has only played in eight games for the Suns since being acquired at the trade deadline, but they’ve won all eight, outscoring opponents by a total of 88 points in those contests.
The Suns are considered strong betting favorites, with a -465 line at BetOnline.ag.
TNT will begin announcing the winners next week during its coverage of the 2023 playoffs, according to the NBA. The three finalists for each award are based on voting results from a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.
Antetokounmpo, the league’s back-to-back MVP winner in 2018/19 and ’19/20, has finished fourth and third in MVP voting over the past two seasons, respectively. He averaged a career-high 31.1 PPG along with 11.8 RPG and 5.7 APG on .553/.275/.645 shooting in 63 games (32.1 MPG) this season in leading the Bucks to the NBA’s best record at 58-24.
Embiid, the MVP runner-up in each of the past two years, led the league in scoring for the second consecutive season, posting a career-high 33.1 PPG along with 10.2 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.0 SPG and 1.7 BPG on .548/.330/.857 shooting in 66 games (34.6 MPG). The Sixers finished third in the East with a 54-28 record, though it’s worth noting that record is also the third-best mark in the league.
Jokic, the reigning back-to-back MVP, averaged 24.8 PPG, 11.8 RPG, 9.8 APG and 1.3 SPG on .632/.383/.822 shooting in 69 games (33.7. MPG). In addition to breaking Wilt Chamberlain‘s record for most assists per game by a center (8.6), Jokic led the Nuggets to the top seed in the West with a 53-29 record.
It’s long been assumed that Banchero, Brown and Fox were the runaway favorites for their respective awards. Given Embiid’s excellent play to end the season and Denver’s stumble to the finish line, it seems likely that Embiid will edge out Jokic and Antetokounmpo to win his first MVP — all three finalists are more than deserving, just as they were last year.
However, the other three awards are more up in the air. Jackson and Lopez have been considered the betting favorites for DPOY for much of the second half of the season. Mobley’s inclusion is somewhat surprising, but maybe it shouldn’t be — the Cavs finished with the league’s top defense and he is arguably the best defender on the team.
The NBA G League named the recipients of its All-League, All-Rookie, and All-Defensive teams on Thursday (allTwitterlinksfoundhere). Many of the honorees are on standard NBA or two-way contracts.
(# Bouyea signed 10-day deals with the Heat and Wizards, but is now an NBA free agent)
Both Dunn and Samanic signed standard contracts with the Jazz, while Harrison signed with the Lakers at the very end of the season after playing with Portland on a 10-day deal. Duke and Lofton recently had their two-way contracts converted into standard deals.
Cooper, Chiozza and Anderson all hold NBA experience as well. Cooper spent 2021/22 — his rookie season — on a two-way deal with the Hawks; Chiozza has played for the Rockets, Nets and Warriors, and recently signed with a Spanish team; Anderson has appeared in 242 NBA games with six teams in as many seasons.
“We thought we were making headway with the process and all that, but each evaluation we had with the doctors kind of revealed it’s not progressing like we need it to. … No setbacks, no reinjuries, it was just not progressing to a level,” the Grizzlies’ head coach said. “Obviously some unfortunate news, but that’s why we’re going to try to do everything possible to try to get the best decision possible for him.”
Due to Adams’ injury, the Grizzlies wound up signing G League Rookie of the Year Kenneth Lofton Jr. to a standard contract. It wasn’t a given, Cole tweets. Jenkins said the Grizzlies did their “due diligence” on bringing in a free agent big man for the playoffs, but ultimately decided to reward Lofton for how well he’s played and his knowledge of the system.
Kenneth Lofton Jr.‘s four-year contract with the Grizzlies is guaranteed for next season and is worth a total of $6,927,014, but it’s non-guaranteed for 2024/25 and includes a team option in 2025/26, Hoops Rumors has learned. He received a $1MM salary for 2022/23, which was well above his prorated minimum. The remaining three years are at the minimum salary. Lofton had his two-way contract converted over the weekend.
Taylor Jenkins of the Grizzlies and Doc Rivers of the Sixers were named the NBA’s March/April Coaches of the Month for the Western Conference and Eastern Conference, respectively, the league announced today (via Twitter).
Jenkins’ 14-8 record in March and April was the West’s second-best mark behind the Lakers (14-6). The Grizzlies’ head coach perhaps earned extra marks for dealing with some Ja Morant-related drama and Brandon Clarke‘s season-ending injury during that time.
Meanwhile, no NBA team won more games in March and April than Rivers’ Sixers, who went 15-7 to lock up the No. 3 seed in the East.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
Reggie Perry, a 2020 second-round pick who appeared in 36 games for the Nets, Trail Blazers, and Pacers from 2020-22, has signed with South Korea’s LG Sakers, the team announced on Instagram (hat tip to Sportando). Perry is headed overseas after spending most of the 2022/23 season with the Raptors 905 in the G League.
The NBA announced in a press release that the league set a new single-season record for total attendance in 2022/23, establishing new high water marks for both league-wide attendance (22,234,502) and average attendance per game (18,077). Both of those records were previously set in 2017/18.
In a pair of tweets, Bobby Marks of ESPN identifies several of the players who earned bonus money by achieving regular season incentives, led by Knicks forward Julius Randle ($2.4MM) and Celtics wing Jaylen Brown ($2.1MM)
Agent Raymond Brothers – who represents Markelle Fultz, Immanuel Quickley, and Precious Achiuwa, among others – has left Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports and returned to his former agency, IAM Sports, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Brothers said in a statement that he holds Roc Nation in the “highest regard” and wishes them well.
As Cole outlines, that means Jaren Jackson Jr. may face more challenging defensive assignments in the postseason and that everyone will have to help out on the glass, including guards Ja Morant and Desmond Bane.
Cole also suggests that the Grizzlies should look to take advantage of the added versatility of their Adams-less lineups, since having David Roddy, Xavier Tillman, or Santi Aldama on the court makes the team more switchable on defense.
Here’s more on the Grizzlies:
Jackson believes he should win this season’s Defensive Player of the Year award, telling Tim MacMahon of ESPN that he wants it “bad.” However, while Jackson’s ability to protect the rim and anchor the Grizzlies’ defense was his greatest asset during the regular season, his scoring on offense might ultimately determine how high the team’s ceiling is this spring, according to MacMahon, who notes that the big man averaged 22.7 points per game on 51.1% shooting in the nine games Morant missed in March.
Writing for the Commercial Appeal, Cole looks back at the Grizzlies’ decision to select Ziaire Williams at No. 10 in the 2021 draft. Williams spent much of the 2022/23 season playing in the G League and battling injuries. Meanwhile, Trey Murphy – whom the Pelicans selected with the No. 17 pick they received from Memphis in the trade that also included the No. 10 pick, Adams, and Jonas Valanciunas – has enjoyed a breakout year in New Orleans, averaging 20.4 points per game on .506/.453/.903 shooting in his last 18 games.
In an exclusive report, Gus Garcia-Roberts and Molly Hensley-Clancy of The Washington Post provide more details on the off-court incidents that Morant was involved in during the past year and suggest that local police didn’t investigate those incidents as thoroughly as they could have. The Post’s duo identified and interviewed the teenager who was punched by the Grizzlies guard in a pickup game and spoke to a shoe salesman at a Memphis mall who said he was shaken up after allegedly being threatened by Morant.
Carlik Jones
Kenneth Lofton