The Grizzlies return to the basketball court on December 12th against the Utah Jazz, but not without additional news on their injury front. Ja Morant is expected to return after missing 10 games for a calf strain he suffered in Zach Edey's season debut on November 15th against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Unfortunately, they will swap places again as Edey will miss at least four weeks due to a stress reaction in his surgically repaired left ankle. This is also the same ankle that held him out of their first 13 games as he ramped up basketball activities to return to play.
Edey's presence helped the Grizzlies to a 7-4 record in the 11 games he played, including winning seven of their last nine games heading into their NBA Cup break. While his setback comes at an inopportune time with Morant returning to the lineup and the team still two games below .500, the Grizzlies can survive if they take advantage of their schedule.
Teams under .500 await this Grizzlies' stretch without Edey.
The Grizzlies enter this next game against the Utah Jazz with an 11-13 record, and 10 of those wins have come against teams like Utah. Memphis is 10-0 versus teams below .500 this season, and six of their next eight games come against those types of teams.
Their last eight wins have come against those teams, as only one of their 11 wins this season was against a team with a .500 or better record. While Zach Edey was present for seven of the Grizzlies' 10 wins against teams below .500, they were 3-0 in such games before he made his season debut in mid-November.
Taking advantage of lesser competition hasn't been a problem since Tuomas Iisalo took over as head coach at the end of last season. He is 14-0 against teams below .500 since taking over as head coach, so even with Edey expected to miss the next several weeks, the Grizzlies have an opportunity to survive until he comes back.
Ja Morant wasn't playing his best basketball before he went down with his calf injury, but considering everyone knows he hasn't forgotten how to play, he should be the spark plug to compensate for Edey's absence. Having them together in the lineup will have to wait another month, but having one of them in their next stretch against teams they've had success against should be enough to stay afloat.