The Grizzlies continue to sabotage their own campaign! While the core players get injured rotationally, they have a new entrant: Zach Edey. With Ja Morant already on the list with a hip injury, the rookie big joined him with an ankle injury. Usually, we find the fans get disheartened by such news, but on this occasion, it’s completely different. They’ve turned the attention toward the medical staff for the Memphis team’s disappointing state in the last few years.

The 22-year-old rookie didn’t injure his ankle once but twice. During the second quarter of the Sunday night match-up against the Nuggets, Edey rolled his ankle during offensive play. The rising star headed to the locker room after the players and assisted him off the floor. While everyone expected him to sit the rest of the game out, he returned after halftime. And guess what? He rolled his ankle again. This time much more severe than the first impact. Later, the team announced that he wouldn’t return for the rest of the game.

Notably, the injury didn’t impact the result, as the Grizzlies defeated the Nikola Jokić-less Nuggets with a comfortable 105-90 win! However, the frequent injuries have caused an alarming situation in the Grizzlies fold, forcing the fans to point fingers at the medical team. A fan, reacting to the update, wrote, “They need to revamp their medical staff.” Well, even though the community expressed it out of frustration, the Grizzlies’ last few seasons’ injuries prove the fan’s point.

Last season, the team had to use 50 different starting lineups, the most in NBA history, just because of the recurring injuries within the roster. Especially Ja Morant, the team’s leader, has been constantly out with various injuries every season. The previous season, in which Morant already missed 25 games because of suspension, he then suffered a season-ending shoulder injury during practice after just playing 9 games. Similarly, there are numerous examples proving fans’ frustration with the management.

Fans frustrated by “Grizz tradition” after Zach Edey’s injury

One of the biggest questions in everyone’s mind was, why did he return in the second half? Amid the frustrated fan outbursts, there was this optimistic fan, who was anticipating the injury report to get shorter. But it doesn’t seem to be the case. The fan wrote, “I was surprised he came back in after half.. just as this list was getting shorter…” 

Interestingly, there was a live example for everyone to prove that it’s not safe to bring back a player who has already rolled their ankle. During the clash against the LA Clippers a few weeks ago, Stephen Curry rolled his ankle and headed to the bench. The superstar used resistant bands to fix his ankles temporarily and got back on the floor. Unfortunately, minutes after he clocked in, he rolled his ankle again and he missed the next three games.

Moreover, this fan found a pattern in this play, as they wrote, “Grizz tradition – guy twists ankle; evaluate him; put him back in; twists ankle again (worse this time).” While we don’t have enough proof to back this claim, there’s another distressing pattern.

This is the third ankle injury for a Grizzlies player within a month. Firstly, Ja Morant sustained an ankle strain in the preseason, followed by Marcus Smart, and now, Zach Edey.

Another fan brought in an interesting analogy, saying, “I swear this dude never got hurt in college. This is like the 3rd time already with Memphis f–k that.” While three is a bit of an exaggeration, two is the reality. Two days after his debut, on October 25, he suffered a right calf soreness, and the team listed him in the questionable category. However, the Grizzlies decided to play him through the injury. And weeks later, the hoopster sustained his first major injury, sidelining him for at least 1 game.

This fan wanted a solution no matter what, as they wrote, “Perform exorcisms on FedEx forum.” Last season, the FedEx Forum had a lot of empty seats because of the loaded injury report. They embarrassingly ranked 28th on the official attendance report, averaging filling just 16, 631 seats per game last season. Now that the Grizzlies are off to a good start, fans will fill the seats unless another mishap. So, this fan fear is real. Anyway, what do you make of the team’s medical staff? Let us know in the comments.