Ja Morant‘s reduced minutes were a topic of conversation as the Grizzlies backup point guard Scotty Pippen Jr. saw more minutes than him. The two-time All-Star sustained an injury and briefly exited the game in the 3rd quarter against the Rockets on Friday. He returned and completed the game playing for 24 minutes. The hooper scored 24 points and had 2 assists, going 8-17 from the field.

Earlier news coming in suggested that Ja Morant is ‘questionable’ for tonight’s game against the Magic. While that meant he could’ve missed tonight’s game and that would be because of the right thigh soreness he sustained in Friday’s loss, Rotowire has dropped a further update on the same, just minutes before the game.

“Morant (thigh) is available for Saturday’s game against the Magic,” they posted. Coach Jenkins and the team are bringing Morant back to the squad slowly as he returns to regular action.

The HC had said after the game, “We’re working with him and the medical team about how we want to deploy him over this stretch right now,” and added, “Obviously he was out for a portion of preseason, so getting his game legs and conditioning right,” indicating that the Memphis side is taking precautions with their player and they do not want to rush his comeback from the injury.

The Grizzlies already have a lot of injuries and Ja Morant’s initial GTD was the latest blow. The squad, however, will have to navigate from this slump, bouncing back from their defeat against the Rockets. Let’s take a look at the team’s injury report to get a better idea of their depth.

Memphis Grizzlies’ heavy injury report

The depth of the Grizzlies is affected by these injuries, as they are missing their role players such as Luke Kennard and Vince Williams Jr. Luke, as reported by Coach Jenkins won’t be available for the first week of the season and the latter is still out because of a shin injury and according to Jenkins “still a couple of weeks away” from game action.

Alongside Ja Morant’s iffy health status was the absence of Jaren Jackson Jr. It’s a major one. The hooper is out with a hamstring injury and was earlier ruled out of Friday’s game against the Rockets too. Another player who is a couple of weeks away from game action is Cam Spencer, who is suffering from an ankle injury.

The last one on the list is GG Jackson II, who successfully underwent a procedure to repair a broken fifth metatarsal in his right foot and will be evaluated in approximately three months.

We’ve already seen Santi Aldama playing in place of Jackson Jr. Similarly backup point guard Scotty Pippen Jr. could start against the Magic in place of Ja Morant, if there’s a setback, as the Grizzlies look to get back to winning ways against the Magic.