- Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal explores why the Grizzlies are 16-2 without Ja Morant this season. Morant is having an MVP-caliber season, averaging 27.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists per contest. However, his supporting cast has stepped up on both ends, leading to Memphis’ unexpected jump up the Western Conference standings — the team has the NBA’s second-best record, at 52-23. “They talk about what they got to do going out there every single night to set a tone offensively, defensively, but with their spirit,” head coach Taylor Jenkins said. “It’s not just on the floor, it’s off the floor.”
6:18pm: The Grizzlies expect Morant to be ready to go for their postseason run, according to Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
“We expect him to make a full recovery before the playoffs, and we’re excited about that with two-and-a-half weeks left in the season,” Jenkins said. “We’ll offload him early, then he’ll start reloading pretty soon here with that two weeks in mind to reevaluate.”
5:49pm: Ja Morant‘s knee injury will be reevaluated in two weeks, according to Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
Morant underwent an MRI and X-ray on his sore right knee. The star point guard will miss his third consecutive game on Thursday.
With the Grizzlies wrapping up the regular season on April 10, it seems unlikely Morant will play again during the regular season. Memphis is currently in second place in the Western Conference, two games ahead of Golden State. The play-in tournament prior to the first round will buy Morant more time to recover.
Morant apparently suffered the injury on a drive late in the fourth quarter of Memphis’ loss to Atlanta last Friday.
Through 56 games, Morant is averaging 27.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 6.7 APG and 1.2 SPG on .493/.340/.762 shooting. The Grizzlies will have to rely on backups Tyus Jones and De’Anthony Melton until he returns.
Morant suffered a left knee sprain early this season that sidelined him for 12 games.
In an appearance on ESPN’s NBA Countdown prior to Wednesday’s game against Brooklyn (video link), Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. said he believes he should win the Defensive Player of the Year award this season. Jackson leads the league in blocked shots per game with 2.2; he also averages 1.0 SPG and 5.9 RPG in 27.3 MPG.
“Of course I think I’m Defensive Player of the Year,” Jackson said. “I just think what I’m able to do, I mean the blocks are cool, but you get blocks from contesting shots. I’m able to do a lot more than most people who get a lot of blocks. I’m able to switch out on guards, I’m able to talk.
“You’ve gotta be a quarterback on defense and I think that’s what people miss. It’s a mind game. You’re really playing chess. I think Draymond [Green] might have said that one time, you’re playing chess with the offensive team coming down. So, I’m just able to read and I’m able to use my length to my advantage when I can.”
After appearing in just 11 games last season as he recovered from a torn meniscus, Jackson has played a career-high 72 contests to this point, only missing one game for the 50-23 Grizzlies.
Here’s more from Memphis:
- With his fifth three-pointer in Wednesday’s 132-120 win over the Nets, Desmond Bane broke Mike Miller‘s single-season franchise record for threes made, the team announced (via Twitter). Bane finished the game 8-of-17 from the field, including 6-of-10 from deep, for a total of 23 points. He also chipped in four rebounds, five assists, a steal, and was plus-20 in 32 minutes of action. Bane has now converted 204 three-pointers this season.
- The Grizzlies are way ahead of schedule in their rebuild, according to Tim MacMahon and Kevin Pelton of ESPN. Many expected the Grizzlies to be in the mix for the play-in tournament again after making their way to the No. 8 seed last season, but they’ve made a major leap and currently hold the second-best record in the NBA, only trailing the 59-14 Suns.
- Nets star Kevin Durant thinks Ja Morant is bound for Springfield (Massachusetts) when his career is finished, per Nick Friedell of ESPN. “When you got a future Hall of Famer at the head of the snake, it just makes everybody better,” Durant said on Monday. “He’s a combination of players, I feel. I think the greatest players in our game can transform into anybody at any given point. And I think Ja’s on the way to that. When he’s playing, I see like two or three, four different Hall of Famers in his game. From [Allen] Iverson, to he might make a [Michael] Jordan-like layup, or he might run down the court like a [Russell] Westbrook or a [Derrick Rose].”
- In case you missed it, Morant underwent an MRI and X-ray on his sore right knee on Wednesday.
Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins says that star Ja Morant is undergoing an MRI and X-ray on his sore right knee, according to Mark Giannotto of The Memphis Commercial Appeal (Twitter link).
“They’re doing that right now. Right now, it’s soreness. That’s what he’s feeling. So they’re diving in … to see what’s actually going on and what course of action needs to be taken,” Jenkins said, per Giannotto.
As Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian observes (video link), Morant apparently suffered the injury on a drive late in the fourth quarter of Memphis’ loss to Atlanta last Friday. At the very least, he’s out Wednesday against the Nets.
Strangely, this is the second knee injury Morant has had against Atlanta this season. At the end of November, Morant sustained a left knee sprain against the Hawks that sidelined him for 12 games.
Hopefully the injury is nothing serious, as Morant is in the midst of a breakout campaign for the Grizzlies, who currently hold a 49-23 record, good for the No. 2 seed in the West. Morant, who was named an All-Star for the first time this season, will be in the conversation for a few other awards, including MVP, All-NBA and Most Improved Player.
Through 56 games, Morant is averaging 27.6 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 6.7 APG and 1.2 SPG on .493/.340/.762 shooting. With the star point guard sidelined, backups Tyus Jones and De’Anthony Melton should see an uptick in minutes.
- Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commerical Appeal explores why the Grizzlies’ championship odds may be determined by their second-best player. Starting point guard Ja Morant has put forth an MVP-caliber season, but Memphis will need production from Jaren Jackson Jr. to make a deep playoff run. Jackson has emerged as a versatile defender for the Grizzlies, averaging 16.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and a career-high 2.2 blocks per game.
Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said on Friday that Dillon Brooks is expected to return for the team’s upcoming road trip, Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets.
Brooks has been playing five-on-five as he recovers from a left ankle sprain that has sidelined him since January 8 — he has missed the past 26 games (27 including Friday’s contest vs. New York).
Memphis has three games next week, all on the road — March 13 at Oklahoma City, March 15 at Indiana, and March 18 at Atlanta. The Grizzlies finish out the road trip on Sunday, March 20, at Houston. Brooks could return at any point during the four-game stretch, depending on how he’s feeling.
The 26-year-old is in his fifth season in the NBA, all with Memphis. Through 21 games (28 minutes) this season, he’s averaging 18.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.3 steals on .426/.327/.889 shooting. Brooks is a strong, versatile defender and is known as a locker room leader.
Brooks has unfortunately been beset by a number of issues this season. First, he missed the team’s first 10 games while recovering from a fractured left hand that he suffered over the summer.
He was able to play for about a month-and-a-half, then he entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols at the end of December and missed six games. In just his second game back after clearing the protocols, he suffered the sprained ankle.
Brooks’ return will be a welcome boost for the ascendant Grizzlies, who currently hold a 45-22 record, good for the second seed in the West.
The Grizzlies have been one of the NBA’s most impressive overachievers in 2021/22. Oddsmakers projected Memphis to finish the season with a record around .500, but the team has already comfortably exceeded that projection, putting up a 44-22 record to date.
Even if they slump a little down the stretch, the Grizzlies look like a safe bet to exceed 50 wins and claim one of six guaranteed playoff spots in the West. If they continue playing like they have all season, they’d do much better than that — they’re on pace to win 55 games and claim the conference’s No. 2 seed.
The Grizzlies’ ascension has been led by Ja Morant, who has become a legitimate MVP contender, and Jaren Jackson Jr., a strong All-Defensive candidate who may receive Defensive Player of the Year consideration. Morant and Jackson have anchored a Memphis squad that ranks fifth in the NBA in offense and eighth in defense in 2021/22.
Sharpshooter Desmond Bane, who is averaging 17.8 PPG with a .412 3PT%, leads an impressive group of role players that also includes second-leading scorer Dillon Brooks (who has been limited to just 21 games due to a series of injuries), center Steven Adams, guards Tyus Jones and De’Anthony Melton, and forwards Kyle Anderson, Brandon Clarke, and Ziaire Williams.
Those players all have something in common — not a single one has celebrated his 30th birthday. At age 28, Adams is the oldest player on one of the NBA’s younger rosters.
As good as the Grizzlies have been this season, the conventional thinking is that young teams like this one generally have to pay their dues in the playoffs, gaining valuable postseason experience before they make a real breakthrough.
Two teams that Memphis has been compared to are good examples of this phenomenon — the up-and-coming Thunder team that featured Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and Serge Ibaka lost in the first round of the 2010 playoffs after winning 50 regular season games, then advanced to the Western Finals in 2011 and the NBA Finals in 2012. In 2013 and 2014, a Warriors team featuring Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green won just a single playoff series before they broke through for a championship in 2015.
On the other hand, it was just last spring that two rising young teams ended multiyear playoff droughts and made deep postseason runs — the Suns appeared in the NBA Finals in their first playoff appearance since 2010, while the Hawks made the Eastern Finals. It was the first time that players like Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges, Deandre Ayton, Trae Young, and John Collins had appeared in the postseason, but they still managed to win multiple series.
With all that in mind, we want to know what you think of the Grizzlies’ playoff chances this spring. The projected matchups remain fluid, but if the season ended today, Memphis would face the winner of a Timberwolves/Clippers play-in game in round one, then the winner of a Warriors/Nuggets series in round two.
Is this Grizzlies team prepared to make a run to the Western Finals or the NBA Finals, or is a first- or second-round exit more likely? If you expect Memphis to bow out of the postseason early, is it more about the level of competition in the West, or do you think this squad is still at least a year or two (or a player or two) from becoming a true title contender?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts on the Grizzlies!
- In a separate story for The Athletic, Vorkunov examines Zach Kleiman‘s rapid ascension through the Grizzlies‘ front office and the admirable job he has done since becoming Memphis’ top basketball decision-maker. Kleiman has helped turn the team into a legit contender since being named executive VP of basketball operations at age 30 in 2019. “I wouldn’t be in this position without (Grizzlies owner) Robert Pera’s vision and emphasis on organizational culture,” Kleiman said. “He entrusted me to lead basketball operations despite me being a relative unknown in NBA circles, and has challenged us to be intentional about establishing and sticking to our core tenets.”
- Dillon Brooks (ankle) doesn’t yet have a specific return date lined up, but Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins said the forward took a “huge step” in his recovery process this week, per Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. “He’s been fully integrated,” Jenkins said. “We haven’t had a lot practices to get him out there. We’re not going live or contact. He’s doing contact in other settings, but he’s been fully involved in all of our team film sessions.”
The Lakers hit a new low on Sunday night, suffering a blowout home loss to the Pelicans in which they were booed repeatedly by the crowd at Crypto.com Arena, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. It was the ninth loss in 12 games for an L.A. team that is now 27-33 on the season and only has a 2.5-game lead on the 11th-place Trail Blazers.
As McMenamin observes, it won’t get any easier this week for the Lakers, who face the Mavericks on Tuesday, the Clippers on Thursday, and the Warriors on Saturday. The Lakers are 1-5 against those teams so far this season, narrowly squeaking out an overtime victory in mid-December over a Dallas squad that was missing Luka Doncic.
As Jovan Buha of The Athletic writes, LeBron James was among the Lakers who had no answers after Sunday’s performance. Russell Westbrook, who had one assist and seven turnovers on Sunday, hypothesized that teams are giving a little extra effort in games against the reeling Lakers.
“Teams are coming in, playing harder, and I believe that’s kind of their scouting report: Just play harder than them and see what happens,” Westbrook said, per McMenamin. “And it’s working. Until we determine and have the determination that we’re not going to allow it, especially on our home floor, it will continue to happen to us.”
The Lakers are expected to be without Anthony Davis for a few more weeks and are currently 3.5 games back of the eighth-seeded Clippers. If they can’t move into the top eight of the Western Conference by the end of the season, they’ll have to win two games in a play-in tournament to even qualify for the playoffs.
The Lakers’ increasingly disappointing season is likely being monitored closely for draft-related reasons by two Western Conference rivals, the Pelicans and Grizzlies. New Orleans acquired the Lakers’ unprotected 2022 first-round pick in the Davis blockbuster in 2019, then flipped it to Memphis in last summer’s Jonas Valanciunas deal.
When the Pelicans traded the Lakers’ 2022 first-rounder to the Grizzlies, they added top-10 protection to it, so New Orleans will get the pick if it falls between No. 1 and No. 10. If it lands between 11 and 30, Memphis will receive it. It seemed like a pretty safe bet entering the season that the pick would end up in the back half of the first round, but that’s far from a sure thing now, as John Hollinger of The Athletic (Twitter link) and others have noted.
If the season ended today and the Lakers didn’t earn a playoff spot in the play-in tournament, they’d likely enter the draft lottery in a tie for the No. 11 spot, as our reverse standings show. That would give them only an 8.5% chance of moving into the top four, so the Grizzlies would still feel relatively confident about their chances of holding onto the pick in that scenario.
However, this situation could change quickly. If the Lakers are passed in the standings by at least one more team, their pick may well end up in the top 10 even without any lottery luck, which would be great news for the Pelicans. Incidentally, New Orleans looks like the team with the best odds of passing the Lakers — there’s currently a 2.5-game gap between the two clubs, and the Pels have looked better since acquiring CJ McCollum.
It’s also worth noting that even if the Lakers hang onto the No. 9 spot in the West, a pair of play-in wins by the West’s No. 10 seed would move that team out of the draft lottery, pushing L.A. up one spot in the lottery standings.
At this point, it doesn’t matter much to the Lakers which team gets their lottery pick — they won’t keep it in any scenario. But it’s a major storyline worth following for the Pelicans and Grizzlies, two teams that could really benefit from having another lottery selection.
If the pick ends up in the top 10 and the Pelicans keep it, they’ll send Cleveland’s 2022 second-rounder and their own 2025 second-rounder to Memphis. If the pick ends up between 11-30 and the Grizzlies get it, New Orleans won’t get anything.