Could Jaren Jackson Jr. injury lead to a slow start for Memphis Grizzlies?
By Zane Harris
Memphis Grizzlies announce Jaren Jackson Jr. will be out for 4-6 months
It has recently been announced that Memphis Grizzlies star Jaren Jackson Jr. underwent surgery to repair a stress fracture to his right foot on Wednesday.
Current reports are saying that the Memphis Grizzlies forward could miss anywhere from four to six months. Jackson has established himself as the second-best player on the roster as well as a budding star in this league. With him not returning until the end of October at the earliest and the end of December at the latest, what could this mean for the Grizzlies?
The Grizzlies emerged as one of the biggest contenders in the Western Conference last year and with how much youth is on the roster, many believe that a dynasty could be forming in Memphis.
However, without Jackson on the floor for possibly the first quarter of the season, the Grizzlies could end up playing catchup for the remainder of the year to try to get back the seeding that they will likely lose with Jackson’s absence.
Although Jackson will be sidelined for a considerable amount of time next season, the Grizzlies have one of the deepest benches in the league and have gotten some experience under their belt of not playing without a star last season as Ja Morant was forced to miss a good chunk of last year due to injuries.
Morant missed roughly 25 games last season. If Jackson is able to recover from this surgery around November or December, he would end up missing less time than Morant did last year.
Along with this, Morant plays a much larger role on the team than Jackson. Despite missing Ja for over a fourth of the season last year, the Grizzlies thrived without him. Including the time that he missed in the playoffs, Morant missed a total of 27 games last season. Out of those 27 games, they finished with a record of 21-6. This truly speaks to the “next man up” mentality along with the depth that this Grizzlies team possesses.
With Memphis not set to lose any big names in free agency, the supreme depth should still be there this coming season. Although things will not be easy without Jackson Jr. on the court, the Grizzlies will likely still find a way to thrive without him.
It will be on the shoulders of players like Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke to pick up the slack and make up for the absence of Jackson Jr. not only on offense but, possibly even more important, on defense as well.