Grizzlies’ point guard Mike Conley may play Friday night

The Memphis Grizzlies are having another injury-riddled season, but they may get point guard Mike Conley back on Friday night.

When he was originally sidelined in late November with a transverse process fracture in his lower back, Memphis Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley was expected to miss 6-8 weeks. But there have been consistent indications he could beat that timetable, and Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reported Thursday that Conley could return this weekend.

On Friday, some more optimism regarding Conley has come.

If Conley does play Friday night against the Sacramento Kings, he would only have missed nine games rather than the wide end of his initial 6-8 week timetable. The Grizzlies have more than stayed afloat without him, with a 7-2 record over those nine contests that included a six-game winning streak.

Despite going through another injury-riddled season to this point, the Grizzlies are 18-9 and currently sit as the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference. But they waived point guard Toney Douglas on Thursday, seemingly in preparation for Conley or James Ennis (calf) being able to suit up against the Kings on Friday night. There was a possibility forward Chandler Parsons (knee) would also return to action Friday night, but he and Ennis have now been declared out for the game.

The Grizzlies added yet another player to their injury list this week, with rookie forward Deyonta Davis now expected to miss 6-8 weeks with a torn plantar fascia in his left foot.

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Conley is sure to be on a minutes restriction in his first few games back. But having him on the floor in any capacity very soon is obviously great news for the Grizzlies, as they look to eventually have a full compliment of healthy players this season.