During a season in which Memphis Grizzlies star guard Ja Morant has missed approximately half of the team’s 35 games due to injury, teammates seem to be joining him on the sidelines on a consistent basis.
The latest to join the oft-injured Morant was rookie Cedric Coward, a bright spot for the Grizzlies this season and a player who had mostly escaped the injury bug. He had missed only one game this season because of heel soreness but he will sit out Tuesday’s game against the visiting San Antonio Spurs due to an ankle injury.
In Sunday’s 120-114 road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, Coward injured his left ankle in the first half and didn’t return as the Grizzlies dropped their fourth straight. Morant began the game on the sidelines in street clothes, a victim of a right calf contusion suffered two days earlier, also against the Lakers.
Morant has played in just 18 games this season and is questionable for Tuesday due to a right calf contusion.
Reserve guards Scotty Pippen Jr. (toe) and Ty Jerome (calf) have yet to play this season because of their injuries. Forward Brandon Clarke (calf) made a brief appearance last month after recovering from a knee issue, but was injured again. Starting big man Zach Edey has been out with a stress reaction in his surgically repaired left ankle.
Reserve wing players John Konchar (thumb) and Vince Williams Jr. (knee), who has been pressed into emergency point guard duties on occasion, also are out with injuries.
Coward had 16 points and eight rebounds before injuring his left ankle in the second quarter against the Lakers.
“I thought he played a great game, but he only got to play 12-and-half minutes,” Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo said.
His long-term loss would be impactful. Coward has played the fourth-most minutes for the Grizzlies this season, trailing only Jaren Jackson Jr., Santi Aldama and Jaylen Wells. Coward’s defensive rebounding percentage (16.1%) ranks third behind Edey (25%) and Santi Aldama (16.4%).
The Grizzlies will attempt to recover during a stretch of seven home games in their next nine games. The two non-home games will be against the Orlando Magic in Berlin and London.
Memphis entered the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against the Lakers with a four-point advantage, but couldn’t maintain it. Luke Doncic and LeBron James took control of the game’s final 12 minutes to extend the Grizzlies’ misery. Cam Spencer, who started in place of Morant, had a rare off-shooting night missing nine of his 10 field goal attempts, including all five of his 3-point shots.
San Antonio has been dealing with injury issues of its own. Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs’ NBA most valuable player candidate, missed Saturday’s 115-110 home loss to the Portland Trail Blazers with left knee soreness. Coach Mitch Johnson said Wembanyama, averaging 24.3 points and 11.7 rebounds with 61 blocks in 21 games, will make the trip to Memphis and could be available.
The Spurs listed Wembanyama as questionable for the contest on Monday’s injury report.
Even without Wembanyama, Johnson would have liked to have seen a better effort.
“Guys were not playing with their instincts,” Johnson said. “If we continue to guard like we guard at the start of games teams will continue to shoot like they have. There’s been enough of a sample size in the recent part of games that I don’t think it’s an outlier.”
Luke Kornet had 23 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots against Portland. Julian Champagnie added 20 points and 10 rebounds while De’Aaron Fox scored 19 points.
The Spurs have won seven of their last 10.
