Memphis Grizzlies: 5 storylines to watch after the All-Star break

The return of Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Memphis Grizzlies

I thought I’d start you out with the most obvious storyline for the remainder of the year. There hasn’t been much recent news about the return of Jaren Jackson Jr., but most recently, he has been expected to return after the NBA All-Star break.

That would mean that a game against the Milwaukee Bucks is the last game that we’ll see this team play without Jackson Jr. He may not be back right away, but his return is near.

This doesn’t mean he’ll instantly be back to his peak performance, either. It’s going to take some time for him to settle into a game that he has missed out on for over a half of a year.

It’s best to compare his return to that of Justise Winslow. He wasn’t just thrust out into the game, he was slowly given a bigger and bigger role in the team’s game plan. To this day, he still hasn’t played as much as we’ll probably see him play at the end of the year.

And this is likely the same fate that we’ll see for Jackson Jr. It’ll be interesting to see how well he assimilates back into the lineup, especially as a guy who eats up so many minutes. We may see less production out of everybody else, leading me to my next storyline.