Ja Morant reportedly to miss large number of Game because of

Star Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant will miss Saturday’s Game 4 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, per ESPN’s Shams Charania. His absence comes as a result of a hip injury suffered during Memphis’ Game 3 loss on Thursday night.

Later on Friday, the Grizzlies officially listed Morant as “doubtful” to play in Saturday’s game, citing a hip contusion.

Per Charania, Morant had already been playing through a “significant” ankle sprain in order to clinch the Grizzlies’ postseason berth. Morant rolled his ankle during Memphis’ play-in matchup against the Golden State Warriors last week, but continued to play despite the injury. The Grizzlies secured the No. 8 seed in the playoffs after defeating the Dallas Mavericks in the play-in tournament.

Morant, visibly in pain, stayed in the game long enough to shoot two free throws, missing both. Afterward, he headed straight to the locker room and did not return to the game, with the Grizzlies later ruling him out with a hip injury. Morant was later spotted on crutches in the tunnel.

It’s bad news for Memphis, who is in danger of getting swept by Oklahoma City on Saturday — and are likely to struggle without Morant. The Grizzlies blew a 29-point lead in Thursday night’s loss, and are now down 3-0 in the first-round series against the Thunder.

The Rockets forward, who, like Green, never shies away from speaking his mind, responded to the recent narrative circulating the NBA world of his teammate Amen Thompson being a dirty player. Thompson undercut Butler as he was in the air fighting for a rebound before suffering a hard fall in Wednesday’s game.

“Nah. I think the dirty player is Draymond, giving [Thompson] a little push,” Brooks said Friday (h/t Chancellor Johnson). “That’s what regular basketball players do. Jimmy flew in the air for a rebound and, you know, stuff happens. Amen’s not a dirty player, he has nothing to do with being a dirty player.

“We’re not worried about that. We’re on to the next game and we hope Jimmy can get better.”