Lakers Injury Report: Health Of Ja Morant Finalized Ahead Of LA-Memphis Game 2

The latest news on Morant's injured hand.

Your Los Angeles Lakers were just dealt some excellent injury luck tonight.

Memphis Grizzlies All-Star Ja Morant had been considered questionable to play today since last night, during a totally imperative second game in the team's first round Western Conference playoff series against Los Angeles.

Now, per Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Grizzlies have announced that Morant will indeed not play this evening, which even he had speculated was possible quickly after departing the fourth quarter of his team's 128-112 loss to the Lakers on Sunday after using his right hand to brace a fall. In so doing, Morant re-aggravated a bone bruise in his hand, and clearly the pain is too intense for him to play through it.

With Morant unavailable, his backup, Tyus Jones, will get the starting nod. Jones is a really solid passer and has good control over the ball in terms of turnover rate, but he's not the special playmaker or scorer that Morant is. 

Memphis is of course already going to be without starting center Steven Adams and reserve power forward/center Brandon Clarke for the entirety of the playoffs, no matter how far they get. It was also revealed earlier today that rookie forward Jake LaRavia will sit out again, though it's possible he returns at some point later in this series (not that it would help much).

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