Ja Morant injury update: Grizzlies star leaves game following nasty fall

Ja Morant left Tuesday’s NBA Play-In Tournament game between the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors with an injury after a nasty fall. He appeared to injure his right leg as he followed through on a jumper.

Morant went down in the third quarter of Tuesday’s game. Memphis led 82-80 at the time, and he later headed to the bench, but did not appear to head toward the locker room right away. He later checked back into the game in the fourth quarter, although he had a noticeable limp as he did so.

At the time of his departure, Morant had 18 points, two rebounds and two assists. The Grizzlies wound up trailing the Warriors 94-91 heading into the third quarter.

After appearing in just nine games a year ago, Morant put together a strong year for Memphis to help the Grizzlies to the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. He entered the Play-In Tournament averaging 23.2 points and 7.3 assists per game to help the team to a 48-34 overall record.

Late in the regular season, though, the Grizzlies made a major change. They shook things up in a big way as they parted ways with head coach Taylor Jenkins in a move that surprised many around the NBA and promoted Tuomaos Iisalo to interim head coach ahead of the playoff push.

“I’m genuinely appreciative of Taylor’s contributions to this team and this city over the past six seasons,” Grizzlies president and general manager of basketball operations Zach Kleiman said in a statement. “This was a difficult decision, given the consistent and tangible development of our players and overall success under Taylor’s leadership. I wish Taylor the very best going forward.”

After the news came down, Ja Morant reacted. He pointed out Jenkins is the only coach he ever had in the NBA, and also noted how difficult the timing was with the playoff push approachign.

“It’s tough for me. I’ve had Coach Taylor since I got here. Everything I’ve done in a Grizzlies jersey has pretty much been under him,” Morant said. “It’s my first time really experiencing a coach leaving since I’ve been hooping. It was a lot to process. With the timing, it’s just tough. We had to quickly turn the page.”

Jenkins had a 464-250 overall record in Memphis before the change and took the franchise to three playoff appearances before missing out in 2024-25. Still, the Grizzlies were able to secure the No. 8 seed in the West to set up the matchup against Golden State in the Play-In Tournament.