Sports medicine expert weighs in on Ja Morant’s season-ending injury
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Ja Morant is out for the season after playing only nine games. The superstar had just returned from a 25-game suspension.
Morant’s already-short season was cut even shorter by a shoulder injury: a torn labrum.
“I’m like, you have got to be kidding me, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Patrick Wallace said. “It’s the biggest news in the city right now. It’s the biggest news.”
Wallace is the director of operations at Esco, a restaurant just feet from the FedExForum that threw a parade welcoming Ja back after his suspension.
His words echoed the shock and frustration many fans felt after learning the team will go nearly an entire season without its star player.
A sports medicine expert told FOX13 injuries like Morant’s aren’t a matter of if, but of when.
“At this level, you can’t predict injuries,” Max Paquette, an associate professor of biomechanics and sports sciences at the University of Memphis, said.
Paquette said torn labrums are common among baseball and softball pitchers, but not basketball players.
“Think of a labrum as a protective layer of padding between two bones that make up a joint,” he said.
The labrum is made up of cartilage and meant to keep ball and socket joints, including the shoulder, stable.
“When it happens in basketball players, it is often a traumatic, one-time incident,” Paquette said. “A fall for example, when a player tries to catch themself when they jump.”
According to the Grizzlies, Morant suffered a “subluxation” or partial dislocation of his shoulder after training on Saturday. An MRI then found the tear, ending his season after only nine games.
Morant reacted to the news in a series of posts to X.
First, he posted a blue heart emoji.
“Just waiting for the sun to come out,” he wrote early the next morning.
Mayor Paul Young also weighed in on X.
Your grit and grace inspire Memphis, and we eagerly await your return,” Young wrote in part. “Stay strong, Ja!”
The team said Morant is expected to fully recover ahead of the 2024 season.
“The return to play is pretty high in these types of injuries and surgeries,” Paquette said.
Paquette said he understands fans are frustrated, but the most important thing is giving Morant time to recover and plenty of attention from the team’s world-class medical staff.
But could there be any long-term effects?
“It’s hard to predict. There could be other things going on in the joint, there could be pre-existing issues,” Paquette said. “As of now, based on what’s out there, it’s really hard to tell.”
The Grizzlies were six and 19 ahead of Morant’s return and went six and three in the games he played.
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