The Memphis Grizzlies were one of the NBA’s best stories a year ago as they battled their way to the play-in game in the West. Ja Morant was a major reason for their surprising level of play, as he won Rookie of the Year honors in emphatic fashion, and took the league by storm in his first year in the NBA.
Morant picked up right where he left off to start this season, scoring a career-high 44 in the Grizzlies opener and following that up with 28 points against the Hawks, and while they’ve gotten off to an 0-2 start, they’ve been competitive and headed to Brooklyn for what they hoped would be their first win of the season. However, in the late second quarter disaster struck for Memphis when Morant contested a jumper from Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and rolled his ankle violently on the landing. The young star was writhing in pain on the floor and was eventually taken to the locker room in a wheelchair after being unable to put any weight on that left foot.
Ja Morant in agony after landing on TLC's foot and rolling his ankle pic.twitter.com/NChe1fL244
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) December 29, 2020
Hopefully it is just a very painful ankle sprain and nothing more serious, but for now there’s considerable concern for the Grizzlies about their young star. We will provide further updates when they become available on his status from the team, but one would expect him to get X-rays possibly tonight and an MRI tomorrow.
UPDATE: The current diagnosis is a left ankle sprain and Morant will not return to the game.
.@memgrizz injury report: Ja Morant (left ankle sprain) will not return.
— Grizzlies PR (@GrizzliesPR) December 29, 2020
