Memphis Grizzlies rookie Ja Morant participated in practice with the team on Friday in Salt Lake City ahead of a matchup against the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.
The Grizzlies announced on Nov. 30 that Morant is considered to be week-to-week after aggravating back spasms in a game the previous night against the Jazz. Morant initially suffered the injury on Nov. 25 after crashing into a baseline camera operator.
With Morant practicing with the team on Friday, Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins didn’t rule out the second overall pick from playing on Saturday against the Jazz, according to Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com.
Coach Jenkins says Ja Morant went through some stages of practice today and will be reevaluated in next 24 hours to see how his body/back respond to increased workload. Won't say definitively if Morant could play Sat vs Jazz. https://t.co/deSxIO4mPn
— Michael Wallace (@MyMikeCheck) December 6, 2019
The news of Morant practicing is certainly encouraging after he appeared to take a knee in the back in the fall on the baseline. Morant played in the next two games for the Grizzlies before his back spasms flared up again as the team took a cautious approach in shutting him down for the past week.
The Grizzlies have shown that they will be conservative when it comes to dealing with injuries so the team could opt to hold him out of Saturday in order to get him additional time to heal up.
After Saturday, the Grizz play again on Monday.
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