Grizzlies star Ja Morant will have shoulder surgery, miss rest of season

Memphis Grizzlies All-Star guard Ja Morant will miss the remainder of the season with a torn labrum in his right shoulder, the team announced Monday night.

Morant, who missed the first 25 games of the season while serving a suspension, will undergo surgery and “is expected to make a full recover ahead of the 2024-25 season,” the Grizzlies announced in a news release.

The two-time All-Star guard suffered a ‘subluxation’ or dislocation in his right shoulder during Saturday’s practiceand “following ongoing soreness and instability, Morant underwent an MRI that revealed an underlying labral tear,” the Grizzlies said.

The NBA suspended Morant 25 games in June after he “posed with a firearm in a car during a live-streamed video on May 13, less than two months after he was suspended eight games without pay for the live streaming of a video on March 4 in which he displayed a firearm while in an intoxicated state at a Denver area nightclub,’ the NBA said in a statement at the time.

Morant returned to the court on Dec. 19 and scored 34 points, hitting a buzzer-beater to defeat the New Orleans Pelicans.

Morant has played in just nine games this season, averaging 25.1 points, 8.1 assists and 5.6 rebounds and shooting 47.1% from the field. The Grizzlies were 6-3 with Morant on the court, but they are 13-23 overall – 13th place in the Western Conference.

What does Morant’s injury mean for the Grizzlies?

The Grizzlies got off to a poor start without Morant. They lost their first six games and were just 3-13 after losing to Minnesota Nov. 26. When Morant returned, Memphis was 6-19.

The Grizzlies, who were the No. 2 seed and lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round last season, played better with Morant in the lineup and were in position to make a run at the play-in game format.

But that seems like an unrealistic goal with Morant sidelined. The Grizzlies have the worst-ranked offense, scoring just 107.4 points per 100 possessions, and while their defense is solid at No. 11, their minus-5.6 net rating is 25th.

Memphis owns its first-round pick in 2024 and is headed for a top-10 pick in the June draft.

In the summer of 2022, Morant signed five-year, $197.2 million contract. He is in the first year of that deal that runs through the 2027-28 season.

In what was supposed to be a strong season after winning 51 games last season and reaching the conference semifinals in 2022, the Grizzlies already are looking ahead to next season.