Once again, there’s no sight of Ja Morant! After missing the Saturday night game against the San Antonio Spurs, the Memphis Grizzlies didn’t lace up for tonight’s match-up against the Atlanta Hawks. Should the Grizz Nation be worried? The team hasn’t been at its best since the All-Star break, losing four out of their last 10 games. Importantly, the team has dropped to the fourth seed after the recent surge of the Lakers.

So, what’s the jazz? Ahead of tonight’s game, the Grizzlies listed Morant in the Questionable category with a shoulder injury—the same injury that troubled him last season. Fortunately, the injury update came in with a positive touch. A report stated that the 25-year-old took part in Monday’s shoot-around. It’s indeed a sign that the star guard could return anytime soon.

The only worry is that it shouldn’t be too late. The Grizzlies are on a two-game losing streak and it wouldn’t be too long until the Grizzlies lose the entire plot. Especially, in the last game against the Spurs, the team missed Ja Morant a lot. Even though Jaren Jackson Jr. was perfectly taking care of the clutch business, the team struggled to match up to the Texas side’s offensive flurry. In the end, De’Aaron Fox pulled off one of the insane game-winners of this season. There’s nothing that Morant could’ve done there.

Coming to tonight’s game. The Hawks have lost their rhythm since Jalen Johnson was ruled out of the season. The 9th seeding team, riding on a 4-6 record in the last 10 games, is looking for one good stretch to take the 6th seed. Most importantly, they can fancy a W in Ja Wick’s absence.

Ja Morant and his saga of shoulder injuries

The shoulder trouble has been bothering the Grizzlies’ franchise player for quite some time. It all started with a collision in late December last year. In a game against the Pelicans, Morant took a hard blow while running against Daniel Theis’s hard screen and ultimately missed 5 consecutive games. Following that, he again missed two games in late January after aggravating the injury in a practice session.

Now, a month later, he has missed two games in a row with the same nagging injury. It might seem like Daniel Theis was the real culprit, but he isn’t. It’s something to do with the previous season. The 2023-24 season is a nightmare for the Grizzlies and for Morant, it’s a lesson learned the hard way.

Firstly, Ja missed the first 25 games of the season with a suspension because of the infamous gun episode. Following that, he made a banging return to the floor, instilling hope in the fallen Grizzlies fans. Just 9 games into his return, the team diagnosed him with a torn labrum on his right shoulder, forcing him out for the rest of the season. It was a brutal blow and the team couldn’t recover from it.

However, this season, the team came back with a lot of fire, floating in the top 4 seeds. Will the recent shoulder injuries trouble the Grizzlies again? Hopefully not. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.