Grizzlies injury woes continue to worsen with latest update

There's always that one team every season that has the worst injury luck possible (besides the Miami Heat, who always have a lot of injuries). No matter what, they just can't catch a break. This season, it's the Memphis Grizzlies.

In the same week that they lost Ja Morant for the season with a torn labrum on his right shoulder, Shams Charania reported that Marcus Smart will be sidelined for six weeks with a severe right ring finger injury. They get added to a lengthy injury report for Memphis that before the season started included Steven Adams (won't play this season) and Brandon Clarke (suffered Achilles injury last season), had Morant miss the first 25 games (suspension), has had Smart miss time, and their other veteran guard in Derrick Rose only play 17 of the team's 37 games.

Smart suffered his latest injury in the Grizzlies' win against the Mavericks on Tuesday, 120-103, in a game he still finished with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting. It was the team's third straight win, their best stretch of the season. That isn't saying much, considering they've only won consecutive games one other time (four in a row in late December), but it's still been impressive. They'll have to be even more impressive now to stay in the Play-In race. And, if history has shown, it'll take a lot of work to do that.

The Grizzlies got off to a rocky start without their suspended superstar, starting 6-19 in the 25 games Morant was suspended because of conduct detrimental to the league. That was despite Desmond Bane playing at an All-Star level, and his replacement acquired in the three-team trade in the summer that sent Kristaps Porzingis to Boston, Smart, scored in double figures in seven of his first 11 games while also dishing out five assists and getting two steals a contest. But, he missed 17 straight afterward with a left foot injury.

That didn't help their hope of staying afloat, but once Morant returned the light at the end of the tunnel shined, as they won six of nine games with him in the lineup. However, a crater in the form of Morant's season-ending surgery would block the tunnel, and leave Memphis in darkness for this season.

The vision made sense: in getting Smart, Memphis got an upgrade over Tyus Jones (who was sent to Washington in that aforementioned three-team trade) who could be a stopgap lead guard while Ja returned, and once he did he could also play alongside him and Bane as a perimeter stopper that could create plays off the ball. Ultimately, though, injuries derailed that vision. The potential was there: Smart and Morant played 155 minutes together and the team had a positive net rating (plus-4) in those minutes with a 106 defensive rating. The trio of those two and Desmond Bane shared the floor for 130 minutes and had a plus-7 net rating, also boasting a 106 defensive rating.

Where the Grizzlies go from here

At 14-23, 4.5 games back of the Houston Rockets for 10th place, the final spot in the Play-In, it would've been an uphill battle to get to the playoffs, even with how well they were playing with Morant. So, it served them best to sort out that problem to avoid anything long-term, and not have Morant play at less than 100 percent if they weren't gonna make the playoffs anyway.

While the players on the floor will still compete (like in every bad team), the front office is probably looking at this as tanking the rest of the way. It leaves room for Bane to continue making a push to make the All-Star Game (#expandallstarrosters), other young players like Vince Williams Jr, Jacob Gilyard and Ziaire Williams to showcase their talents on offense, and even for a guy like Luke Kennard to have an increased role and impress buyers at the deadline (he has a $14 million team option for next season). If they keep losing, they own their pick, which they can use to add another young player to their core in preparation for returning to contention in 2024-25.