Memphis Grizzlies: What is the deal with Grayson Allen’s injuries?

The Memphis Grizzlies have been without their starting shooting guard in Grayson Allen for four straight games now. To add to that, he missed two games shortly before this absence, which begs the question — what is going on with Grayson Allen?

The officially listed injury for the game against the Dallas Mavericks was “Abdominal Soreness,” which he sustained in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. But the more you look into this, the less sense it makes.

While missing four consecutive games, you’d assume that the same injury has been nagging Allen for the entirety of his absence. Apparently, that hasn’t been the case. It hasn’t been the case all year long for a player who has had every injury imaginable.

Memphis Grizzlies SG Grayson Allen has had an injury bug in 2021

The late-season injuries began with his hand, as he missed a couple of games with a “Left Hand Injury,” which is just as vague as “Abdominal Soreness.” That said, he would only miss two contests as a result of this, returning to the lineup for a game and a half before going down with the aforementioned abdominal injury.

So that makes Allen inactive for six of the Grizzlies’ last eight games. Not ideal for such an important stretch of basketball. But for Allen, this isn’t new, as he has missed games with more than a handful of injuries this season. Here is a list of body parts that he has injured in 2021.

• Abdomen
• Hand
• Hip
• Head (Concussion)
• Ankle

Fortunately for Memphis, there have been a handful of players stepping up in his absence, including Desmond Bane, De’Anthony Melton, and, most surprisingly, John Konchar, who scored 18 points and was +36 against the Dallas Mavericks.

But basketball without a member of the team’s starting five will not be sustainable through the play-in tournament, and hopefully, through the playoffs. So this begs an even more important question — when will Grayson Allen return?

Logically, you’d think “general soreness” would be a day-to-day situation, but it seems the Grizzlies training staff tends to extend day-to-day situations longer than most other teams will.

There’s no way to know when Allen will return, but if I had to guess, I’d say that we see him listed as “doubtful” or “questionable” for another game before he officially returns to the Grizzlies’ starting lineup.