Shoulder Injury Benches Ja Morant for the Season After Only Nine Games Post-Suspension

In the nine games of Ja Morant‘s comeback post-suspension, he managed to accomplish some impressive feats, such as scoring a game-winning shot in his debut match, executing a dunk on the 7’4″ Victor Wembanyama, and instilling hope among Memphis Grizzlies fans that the team could make it to the play-in tournament. However, on Monday, the team officially announced the unfortunate news of their star point guard’s season-ending situation.

At Saturday’s training session, Morant suffers a subluxation of his right shoulder. Following ongoing soreness and instability, Morant underwent an MRI that revealed an underlying labral tear. The team announced Monday that Morant will undergo season-ending surgery and is expected to make a full recovery ahead of the 2024-25 season.

The Grizzlies team has seemingly been unable to avoid the injury bug lately. Marcus Smart has already missed over fifteen games this season, while Derrick Rose is still trying to work his way back. The frontcourt has been just as beat up as the backcourt. Before the season started, center Steven Adams was ruled out for the year after undergoing season-ending ankle surgery in late October. Brandon Clarke plans on returning around the All-Star break, as he has been recovering from a torn Achilles he suffered in March of 2023.

Kevin Durant gave Ja some advice as he starts his road to recovery during his media availability today.

“For the most part keep your mind straight. Keep your support system tight and like I’ve been saying regardless of how you feel, days I didn’t want to come into the gym and days where I was feeling sorry for myself. I didn’t believe in myself, but you still gotta go to work and get the rehab and get better you know? I think Ja has a great mentality and he’s been working hard his whole life to get where he is so he’ll bounce back.”

A shoulder injury is not as concerning as some of the challenges that Ja Morant has faced in the recent season, such as his suspension and civil case. Despite these setbacks, Morant is known for his dedicated work ethic and is likely to come back stronger than ever. The real question is how the Memphis team can continue to improve their performance.