- Ja Morant and Steven Adams were both sidelined for the Grizzlies in Monday’s blowout victory over the shorthanded Hawks, but they were full participants in Wednesday’s practice and are “trending towards playing” on Thursday against Milwaukee, per Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal (Twitter link). Morant is averaging career highs in points (27.7), rebounds (6.6) and assists (7.8), while Adams leads the NBA in offensive rebounds per game (4.8) for the second consecutive season.
- The Grizzlies‘ bench has struggled to an extent this season, partly due to injuries, but Monday showed why the second unit has a lot of potential, Cole writes for The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Tyus Jones and Brandon Clarke and had productive games starting in place of Morant and Adams, and some little-used reserves also had strong outings. “We’re deep,” Xavier Tillman said. “It’s a real 15 deep. Nobody’s role is too extreme to where we need them to do more than they’re capable of.” Memphis is currently 18-9, tied with New Orleans for the best record in the West.
- The Grizzlies went 1-5 without Desmond Bane at one point but have now won six straight with the shooting guard sidelined by a toe injury. They’ve achieved that due to Ja Morant‘s playmaking, Dillon Brooks getting more minutes with the second unit and Jaren Jackson Jr. becoming a dominant force, according to Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
- Grizzlies center Steven Adams had a Pistons player roll into his ankle while he was trying to corral a defensive rebound in the fourth quarter of Friday’s game, writes Evan Barnes of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Adams, who limped off the court and didn’t return, will be reevaluated this weekend, but said after the game that he felt OK, per Barnes. Memphis isn’t back in action until Monday, so Adams will have at least a couple days off to rest the ankle.
Desmond Bane will miss at least three to four more weeks with a toe injury he suffered last month, the Grizzlies announced.
A press release from the team stated that Bane is making progress as he rehabs a right big toe sprain and sesamoid injury. He has been cleared to begin “a gradual re-loading protocol,” and if that goes well he could resume playing by late December or early January.
The third-year shooting guard was off to a strong start, averaging career highs with 24.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.8 assists while shooting 45.1% from the field. Memphis has a +9.2 net rating in the minutes that he has played.
The Grizzlies were 9-4 when Bane was injured in a Nov. 11 game against the Timberwolves. They have gone 6-5 since then and are currently third in the Western Conference standings.
With Ja Morant sidelined on Monday due to left ankle soreness, Tyus Jones showed why the Grizzlies made him the NBA’s highest-paid backup point guard this past summer, writes Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Inserted into the starting lineup, Jones responded by scoring 28 points and dishing out 10 assists en route to an impressive Memphis win over Miami.
While we could quibble over whether Jones is technically the NBA’s highest-paid backup point guard (Russell Westbrook is coming off the bench in Los Angeles while earning more than three times as much), the Grizzlies point guard is perhaps the league’s highest-paid point guard who signed his contract expecting to be a backup — even if he doesn’t think of himself that way.
“I feel like I view myself as a starter in this league,” Jones said. “I feel like I am a starter in this league. I just come off the bench, and I have no shame in that. I love being in Memphis, and I take pride in my role.”
Morant’s absence and Jones’ promotion gave Grizzlies rookie Kennedy Chandler the rare chance to play a major role off the bench, and he logged a season-high 26 minutes in the win over the Heat. As Evan Barnes of The Memphis Commercial Appeal details, Chandler has taken advantage this season of the opportunity to lean from the two veteran point guards ahead of him on the depth chart, but admits he has had to adjust to not playing regularly.
“It’s hard. It’s the first time I’ve ever dealt with this. My whole entire life I’ve played 30 minutes (a game),” Chandler said. “This is a business, it’s a growing up moment for me to just keep my mind right.”
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd recognizes that the workload Luka Doncic has handled so far this season isn’t sustainable, according to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. Doncic ranks first in the West with a 37.9% usage rate and is second in the conference in minutes per game (36.8). “For 82 games, it’s no way that he can play at this level, the usage is just way too high. No one can. You know, the things that we ask him to do on the offensive end and then asked him to defend on the other end. It’s a lot,” Kidd said, noting that other players will have to step up for Dallas.
- Now a member of the Wizards, former Mavericks big man Kristaps Porzingis is willing to admit in a conversation with Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports that he “just wasn’t the right guy” to be Doncic’s co-star. “On paper, it would be the perfect fit, but it just didn’t mesh the way that we wanted to,” Porzingis said. “We just did not mesh together well. Sometimes it’s like that in the workplace, you know? It just didn’t work out the way you expected.”
- The Spurs are doing a ton of homework to prepare for the possibility of landing Victor Wembanyama in the 2023 draft, including considering how their current players might mesh with him, according to LJ Ellis of SpursTalk.com. The Spurs won’t have more than a 14% chance of winning the No. 1 pick in next year’s lottery, but it seems likely they’ll be among the top contenders for Wembanyama — San Antonio is currently just 6-18, dead last in the West.
- Grizzlies star Ja Morant is doubtful for tonight’s game vs. Miami due to left ankle soreness, Memphis announced (via Twitter). In addition to Morant, injury-replacement starter John Konchar (right toe soreness) and rookie forward Jake LaRavia (left foot soreness) are also doubtful, while All-Defensive big man Jaren Jackson Jr. has been ruled out on the second of a back-to-back for injury management (he had offseason foot surgery and just returned a few weeks ago). On a positive note, second-year wing Ziaire Williams, who has yet to play this season due to right patellar tendinitis, is listed as doubtful instead of out for the first time and was sent to the G League to practice ahead of Monday’s game (Twitter link). Head coach Taylor Jenkins recently said Williams was nearing a return.
Spurs rookie small forward Malaki Branham, the No. 20 pick in the 2022 draft out of Ohio State, is finding other ways to contribute to San Antonio while mired in a scoring slump, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News.
“He’s going to be really good,” San Antonio guard Devin Vassell said. “I played with him a lot during the summer. I’ve seen the way he can play… As long as we instill confidence in him, he’s going to be fine.”
The 6’5″ swingman, 19, is averaging 5.0 PPG on .327/.250/.750 shooting splits, 1.8 APG, and 1.5 RPG across 16.3 MPG for the Spurs.
There’s more out of the Southwest Division:
- The 13-9 Grizzlies are reaping the benefits of defensive enforcer Steven Adams, recently inked to an extension with the club, as he does battle against top opposing centers, writes Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. “I feel like that’s what makes (Adams) so great for us all around,” All-Star Memphis point guard Ja Morant said of the 6’11” vet. “Him taking on that challenge to guard the best bigs—being able to limit them and make their shots tough as possible… He’s a big piece to our team, and we’re definitely thankful for him.”
- Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd suggests that Dallas players have felt the absence of now-Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson off the court as much as on it, per Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). “You can ask Josh [Green] and [Dwight Powell] and Maxi [Kleber], those guys in that locker room, when things weren’t going well, he was always someone that’s a calming voice to be positive and try to help you out of a slump,” Kidd said.
- In case you missed it, Mavericks president Nico Harrison recently discussed the addition of Kemba Walker, the departure of Brunson, and more.
Grizzlies All-Star point guard Ja Morant has been fined by the NBA to the tune of $35K, the league announced in a press statement (Twitter link).
The NBA’s press statement indicated that Morant is being penalized for “confronting and directing inappropriate language toward a game official and failing to live the court in a timely manner following his ejection.”
The All-NBA guard received a technical and was ejected with 1:22 left in the final frame of Memphis’s eventual 109-101 road loss to the Timberwolves on Wednesday.
Fine aside, the 6’3″ lead guard out of Murray State is having a terrific fourth season for the 13-9 Grizzlies thus far, averaging a career-high 28.2 PPG on .460/.366/.743 shooting splits. He is also chipping in 7.3 APG, 6.4 RPG, and 1.1 SPG for good measure.
- Grizzlies forward Ziaire Williams, who has yet to play this season due to a right knee injury, is getting close to returning, according to Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal (Twitter links). Williams has been doing 5-on-5 work as he enters the final stage of his rehab process.
- Grizzlies star Ja Morant views Derrick Rose as a trailblazer for athletic point guards, writes Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. “He really made it to where people believe in guys like me,” Morant said after recording 27 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists in Sunday’s victory over the Knicks. “Coming in, athletic guards, I felt like he was pretty much the one who kind of made it more famous. With how acrobatic his finish is, his touch around the rim, and how explosive he was. Coming in, he was my comparison. It’s crazy to be out there on the floor sharing a court with him.”