Memphis Grizzles Forward Jaren Jackson Jr. suffered a meniscus tear in his left knee. It is a season ending injury, per Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Memphis Grizzles are currently the 8th seed in the Western Conference and the fight to hold onto it will be even harder now. Throughout the regular season, Jaren Jackson Jr. averaged 17.4 points, 1.4 assist, 4.6 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, 0.7 steals, 4.1 fouls and 1.7 turnovers per game. He also averaged 28.5 minutes per game in 57 games this regular season. This is a massive blow to Memphis and their efforts to sneak into the playoffs in the West. Jackson was shooting 46.9% from the field, 39.4% from 3 and 74.7% from the free throw line.
The fight for the 8th seed in the West has been and will be brutal from here on out. The Memphis Grizzles are 32-36, they’re only 2 games ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers and only 3 games ahead of the San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans. Teams with an outside shot are the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns who are both 4 games behind the 8th seed at 28-39.
The Grizzles are a very young team with their oldest starter being Jonas Valanciunas at 28 years old. Rookie Ja Morant is 20, Dillon Brooks is 24 and Kyle Anderson is 26. Although their time in the bubble might be short lived, they’re still holding on to that 8th seed. Sure, they might get bounced out of the first round by the Los Angeles Lakers but the Grizzles will have earned the right to make it to the dance. If you ask me and well known Grizzles fan Jackson Law, the Grizzles earned this playoff spot but they still need to fight.
