The Memphis Grizzlies’ forward Jaren Jackson Jr. has torn his left meniscus, and will miss the remainder of the season.
Last night, Memphis Grizzlies fans were treated to some awful news; according to ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski, Jaren Jackson Jr. has torn the meniscus in his left knee and will have to miss the rest of the season. The injury is especially damaging to Jackson Jr., who had to miss a large portion of the games between the All-Star Break and the season hiatus with a sprained knee, and whose rookie season was cut short due to a right quad injury.
Before the injury, Jackson Jr was putting up some amazing numbers for the Grizzlies in the NBA’s bubble. The sophomore, who has played in the last two Rising Stars Challenges, was averaging 25.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, and 1.3 steals per game all while shooting 48.1 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from 3-point range. He had quickly established himself as one of the best players on the court at any time for Memphis while in the bubble.
The injury is going to be especially damaging to the Grizzlies, who are missing Justise Winslow due to a hip injury and Tyus Jones due to knee soreness, as the team is fighting to stay in the Western Conference’s playoff picture.
Memphis didn’t have incredibly depth at the four and five position to begin with, as Brandon Clarke was their only notable big coming off the bench, and now with Clarke moving to the starting lineup the Grizzlies are going to be more strapped than ever for bigs.
Jackson Jr. addressed the injury in a couple of tweets later on in the night:
God knows I like challenges, we just talked
— JJJ (@jarenjacksonjr) August 4, 2020
https://twitter.com/jarenjacksonjr/status/1290796198354452481
A history of injury problems this early in someone’s career is always cause for concern, but Jackson Jr. has so far been able to silence any criticism he has received with his play on the court. Last year, he averaged 13.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.4 blocks, 1.1 assists, and 0.9 steals per game with a shooting split of 50/35/54. This season, Jackson Jr. has improved to 17.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, 1.4 assists, and 0.7 steals on a shooting split of 46/39/56.