Grizzlies star hip specialist

SAN FRANCISCO – The injury report for the Memphis Grizzlies is getting shorter. Marcus Smart returned Wednesday after missing six games, and now Vince Williams and Desmond Bane are close to returning.

If they all return, it would mean the Grizzlies’ projected starting lineup is missing just one for the season: Ja Morant.

The superstar point guard is listed week-to-week in treating right hip subluxation and pelvic muscle strains. Morant is still using crutches while on the team’s current three-game road trip.

On Tuesday, coach Taylor Jenkins said Morant is doing better but is currently offloading, which essentially means there is no basketball activity that would put stress on his hip.

The Commercial Appeal spoke with Michael Gerhardt, a sports medicine specialist and orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles, for more insight into Morant’s injury. He also served for more than two decades as a team physician for the United States Soccer Men’s National Team and the Los Angeles Galaxy of the MLS.

Insight into Ja Morant’s injury

Gerhardt described the hip as a ‘very stable joint’. It takes a lot of force to cause a hip subluxation, and that’s what happened when Morant jumped for an alley-oop pass and landed hard on his right side before leaving a game against the Los Angeles Lakers on November 6.

The force of the fall caused Morant’s hip to partially dislocate from the socket. It was a subluxation and was not considered a dislocation as the ball slipped back in on its own.

“That said, it’s still very painful,” Gerhardt said. “A lot of ligaments and things like that can get stretched in that area and cause problems there, even if it wasn’t a complete dislocation.”

Morant’s injury is not common in sports. Hip subluxation may be more common in a physical sport like football, but it is even rarer on hardwood.

“It’s more common in high-speed accidents, such as car crashes,” Gerhardt said. “Things that involve high-speed forces that cause the hip to slip out of the back and dislocate.”

Next steps, timeline

The chance of the injury re-aggravating is unlikely, Gerhardt said, but there is a “small vulnerability risk” associated with bringing Morant back too soon.

Memphis fires Morant, which Gerhardt essentially believes should happen at this stage of the treatment. The initial goals are to allow everything to calm down and heal. Once the pain is less severe, the Grizzlies will begin to mobilize the hip more and get rid of the crutches for further testing.

The Grizzlies’ timeline is consistent with the idea that hip subluxations can be subjective. How Morant’s hip feels when he walks and jogs will determine how much he can handle. The team will then put him through biomechanical strength tests and on-field exercises to see how he responds.

“Based on what the reports are, I would say it could be three to six weeks before I can play again,” Gerhardt said.

As for the Grade 1 pelvic muscle strain, that injury turned out to be one that might have saved much more of Morant’s season.

“Essentially, those stabilizers stretched, but didn’t break or tear completely,” Gerhardt said. “It prevented his hip from completely dislocating.”

Morant has been sidelined for a week. The Grizzlies are built with their depth to survive this stretch without the two-time All-Star, but his return is crucial for Memphis to achieve its long-term goals.

A positive sign in Morant’s progress will be when he is no longer on crutches. As previously mentioned, he will then undergo testing and should be able to return.

“They’ll try to boost him quickly if he passes all those tests,” Gerhardt said. “The first key is to rid him of the pain.”

Damichael Cole is the Memphis Grizzlies beat writer for The Commercial Appeal. Contact Damichael at [email protected]. Follow Damichael on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DamichaelC.