Zach Edey enters the injury ledger as Memphis’ season unravels in public
The Memphis Grizzlies’ injury cascade took another turn when the team disclosed that starting center zach edey had another procedure, a development arriving alongside confirmation that Ja Morant will miss the rest of the regular season after an injection for an injured left elbow.
What did Memphis officially announce about Ja Morant and zach edey?
On Tuesday, the Grizzlies announced that Ja Morant would miss the rest of the regular season due to an injection for his injured left elbow. Morant appeared in only 20 games this season, and his most recent appearance came in a Jan. 21 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, a 124-122 game in which Morant recorded 23 points, 12 assists and three blocks in 30 minutes.
In a separate team update, Memphis also announced that starting center zach edey had another procedure. The team announcement was grouped with the news that Morant and Brandon Clarke were ruled out for the season.
Why the Morant shutdown changes the on-court picture immediately
Morant will finish the season with only 20 games played, the second-fewest of his seven-year NBA career. During the 2023-24 season, he made a career-low nine appearances. Since his most recent All-Star bid during the 2022-23 season, he has appeared in only 79 total games.
For this season, Morant averaged 19. 5 points per game while posting the worst efficiency of his career. He shot 41. 0 percent overall and made 23. 5 percent of his 3-point attempts. Team-impact metrics underline the limited return in the minutes he did play: across 569 minutes on the court, Memphis had a net rating of minus-4. 4 compared to minus-3. 7 when he sat.
There were also concrete signs of diminished finishing efficiency. Morant shot a career-worst 47. 3 percent on 2-point attempts this season after making 51. 9 percent on those looks across his first six years as a professional player. Over the last three seasons, he totaled 32 made dunks after averaging 52 during his first four seasons.
Where this leaves Memphis: roster uncertainty, draft positioning, and a contract clock
Memphis will miss the playoffs for the second time in three years, while still owning its first-round pick in what is expected to be a loaded 2026 NBA Draft. The team previously entertained trade offers for Morant, a 2020 Rookie of the Year, before deciding to keep him on the roster.
Morant has two seasons remaining on a five-year, $197. 2 million contract extension he signed in July 2022. He is slated to make $42. 2 million next season and $44. 9 million for the 2027-28 season before he is projected to be an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2028, with contract figures attributed to Spotrac.
Against that backdrop, the announcement that zach edey had another procedure adds another variable to a roster already forced into contingency planning. The Grizzlies have now publicly confirmed season-ending developments involving multiple rotation players, and the cumulative effect is a season shaped more by medical updates than by lineup continuity.
From a performance standpoint, the available evidence points to two simultaneous pressures: Morant’s limited availability and reduced efficiency in his 20-game sample, and the team’s growing list of health-related disruptions, now explicitly including zach edey. The consequence is a Memphis season closing with major questions unresolved on the court and no clear timetable provided in these updates for how quickly the roster can return to full strength.
