On January 9, Beijing time, according to the official announcement of the Grizzlies, Morant suffered a dislocation of his right shoulder during Saturday training local time, and after an MRI examination, it was found that there was a tear in the labrum (the shoulder joint between the arm bone and the shoulder blade), and he will undergo shoulder surgery to determine the season reimbursement.
Kristian Winfield posted Morant's playing time, and the analysis pointed out that Morant's injury this time was most likely due to the fatigue caused by the surge in playing time after the 8-month ban.
In the nine games since Morant's return, Morant has averaged 35 minutes per game, including back-to-back games.
Suspended for 25 games in the offseason for live streaming with guns, Morant just returned this season and played nine games, averaging 25.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game, leading the Grizzlies to a 6-3 record.
In Morant's absence, the Grizzlies only have a 7-20 record, and the Grizzlies are currently in the bottom third of the West with a 13-23 record.
With Morant out for the season, the Grizzlies are expected to drop out of contention for a playoff spot, both in terms of maximizing draft benefits and overall strength and competitiveness.
Even according to Bobby Marks' analysis, after Morant is reimbursed, the Grizzlies will receive an injury exception worth $12.4 million, which is a drop in the bucket for the current Grizzlies.
Because the team has also suffered serious injury troubles on the inside, Steven Adams has been reimbursed for injuries and received an injury exception worth $6.3 million at the time.
In addition, Clark, the team's other interior core rotation, has also been sidelined since suffering a torn Achilles tendon in March last year.
Therefore, Kevin O'Connor pointed out that Morant's season reimbursement is not necessarily all bad for the Grizzlies.
After Morant's reimbursement, the Grizzlies will inevitably improve in the draft pick, and they are expected to finish in the top six, even if this year is a small year in the draft, it will not be difficult to pick an All-Star caliber player, and Jaren Jackson and Bane will also be able to get more opportunities to continue to grow.
After the Grizzlies dropped out of the contenders, the chaotic Western Conference competition gradually became clear, and after excluding rebuilding and bad teams, there were only 11 teams left competing for 10 spots (straight through + play-offs).
They are the Timberwolves, Thunder, Nuggets, Clippers, Kings, Mavericks, Pelicans, Rockets, Suns, Warriors and Lakers.
Especially for the Suns, Warriors and Lakers, three in-form flow teams, the Grizzlies' exit has made the team's prospects of competing for a playoff spot clearer, and the overall pressure has been reduced a lot.
But the three teams can't be careless, because the other rebuilding Jazz has become a dark horse to stir up trouble, after beating the second-place Bucks in the East, the Jazz have a proud record of 8 wins and 2 losses in the last 10 games, tied with the Green Army Nuggets for the best in the league in the same period.
With this performance, the Jazz surpassed the Warriors to rise to 11th in the West, and the Warriors fell to the bottom fourth in the West, while the Jazz were only 0.5 wins away from the Lakers in front of them.
However, judging from the Jazz's current roster configuration, personnel contract status, and the operation of the past few seasons, the Jazz are likely to sell instant combat power in the middle of the season, as long as the performance of the three traffic teams does not continue to decline rapidly, the Jazz is actually not much of a threat to the three teams.