Ja Morant Suffers Season-Ending Shoulder Injury

Source: Chris Coduto / Getty

Nine. That’s how many games Ja Morant‘s 2023-24 season will amount to. The Memphis Grizzlies star will be out for the rest of the season after suffering a torn labrum, a cartilage in the shoulder joint stemming from Saturday’s practice, but no specifics were given. The franchise released an official statement about the grim news, saying Morant has shoulder pain because of a dislocation, which led to the medical team taking him in for an MRI showing the tear.

“At Saturday’s training session, Morant suffered a subluxation of his right shoulder. Following ongoing soreness and instability, Morant underwent an MRI that revealed an underlying labral tear,” the release reads. “Morant will undergo season-ending surgery and is expected to make a full recovery ahead of the 2024-25 season.” The news couldn’t come at a worse time for the Grizzlies, who were finally starting to see some momentum since Morant had made his season debut in mid-December after a 25-game suspension because of his penchant for flashing guns on social media. It was the second suspension he faced, with the first coming from flashing a gun at a Colorado nightclub, yielding him an eight-game suspension last season. Since his return, the team was 6-3, a far better record than the 7-20 record without him, as injuries cursed the team. Things first started to sour when the injury led to him pissing Sunday’s game against the Phoenix Suns, but it was chalked up to just a sore right shoulder as he could be seen wearing a sling as he cheered on his teammates from the bench. He was expected to miss Tuesday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks before the season-ending news was announced.

The 24-year-old took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to respond to the disheartening facts by tweeting a blue heart. See how social media’s reacting to the Grizzlies facing a Morant-less rest of the season.