On the morning of January 9, Beijing time, a breaking news came! The Grizzlies officially announced: Morant will undergo shoulder surgery and be reimbursed this season. Morant suffered a dislocated right shoulder in training and was examined to reveal a labral tear. He will undergo surgery and miss the remainder of the season and is expected to make a full recovery before the start of the 2024-25 season.
Wait, didn't Morant just come back? That's right! Last offseason, Morant was banned for 25 games this season with a gun! He just came back and played nine games, averaging 25.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 8.1 assists, 0.8 steals and 3 turnovers per game, shooting 47.1%, 27.5% and 81.2% from three. In these 9 games, the Grizzlies are 6-3.
In the game that Morant missed, the Grizzlies were only 7-20! We used to like to talk about how strong the "No Mo Bear" is, but the problem is that the Grizzlies are not just injured by Morant: Adams has undergone cruciate ligament surgery and is also reimbursed for the season. Clark has been sidelined since March 2023 due to a torn Achilles tendon, and his return date is still undecided.
After Adams was reimbursed for the season, the Grizzlies received a $6.3 million injury exception. With Morant's reimbursement, the Grizzlies can apply for an injury exception worth $12.4 million. Teams with injury exceptions are able to bring in players over the salary cap. However, the same injury exception cannot be disassembled.
Arenas tweeted: "Morant will return like Superman! "Tearing the labrum of the shoulder is more common in the NBA, and both Love and Bushy Eyebrow have suffered similar injuries, and the recovery period from surgery is usually 3-6 months. Although Morant has been plagued by off-court troubles, his performance on the court is still very popular.
In the 2022-23 season, Morant played in 61 games for the Grizzlies, averaging 26.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, 8.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 3.4 turnovers per game, shooting 46.6%, 30.7% and 74.8% from three. In March 2023, Morant was banned for eight games for the first time with a gun, losing $670,000 in wages. As a result, he did not have a long memory, and after 2 months he had a gun again!
Suspended for 25 games this season, Morant lost $7.6 million in wages. These losses are nothing compared to his winnings. Due to missing the All-Star team and not receiving bonus incentives, Morant's contract changed from $233.1 million over five years to $194.3 million over five years. That is, almost $50 million in bonus + salary loss!
In addition to the gun incident, Morant also got into another trouble: in the summer of 2022, he and his friends were suspected of beating a 17-year-old boy on the court. Last month, Morant appeared as a witness at the case hearing and demonstrated to the judge how the two clashed. Netizens ridiculed: Morant became the first person to play in court.
It has been nearly five years since he entered the NBA in 2019, and Morant has to mature a little. Morant was born on August 10, 1999, and will turn 25 this summer, so he can't use his youth as an excuse. You can think about what superstars in NBA history have achieved at the age of 25.
Injuries and off-court factors have delayed Morant for too long, and he should have had a better career!