Grizzlies lose yet another critical rotational piece ahead of 2024-25 NBA season

The Memphis Grizzlies must have committed some heinous acts in the past to anger the basketball gods this much.

Promising young scorer GG Jackson broke his foot late last month, and on Friday the Grizzlies announced that Vince Williams Jr will miss at least four weeks with a "stress reaction in the upper portion of his tibia," according to the Grizzlies official PR page on on X.

Last year, Memphis trotted out what was essentially a G-League lineup for a lot of the season, but actually found some diamonds in the rough of an injury-riddled season. The two main diamonds they found, Jackson and Williams Jr, are now both injured before the 2024-25 season even starts.

Williams Jr's stats don't jump off the page — he averaged 10.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in his sophomore campaign in 2023-24 after barely scratching the floor his rookie year. But if you watched any Grizzlies basketball last season (and it's okay if you didn't) then you understand why Williams is poised for such a big role on the Grizzlies this season. He does pretty much everything well; shooting, passing, defending the ball, rebounding, disrupting passing lanes, acting as a secondary ball handler when necessary. He's the prototype of a player that high-level teams want. Think of Derrick White and Bruce Brown on the last two NBA championship teams.

Grizzlies need all the bench help they can get with injuries

After what feels like many years, Memphis should have its starting lineup fully healthy and ready to play on opening night; and it's a dang good lineup. Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, Marcus Smart and Jaren Jackson Jr combine to form one of the best young cores in the NBA. Rookie Zach Edey is the question mark of this starting lineup, but as long as he can do normal NBA center duties (setting screens, filling up the paint) he should be fine.

The Grizz bench was set to be pretty solid too, with Brandon Clarke returning from injury and Santi Aldama and Luke Kennard bringing some floor-spacing, but GG Jackson and Vince Williams were poised to be pretty big parts of the Griz second unit, which makes these injuries sting. Jake LaRavia and Scotty Pippen Jr will likely see important minutes in Williams Jr's absence.

Here's to hoping Vince Williams Jr can get back on the court not long after the regular season tips off. Memphis is going to be a lot better than the general public expects, and Williams Jr is a sleeper candidate for a huge breakout season.