When Ja Morant sustained his current knee injury in Game 3 of their playoff series against the Golden State Warriors, head coach Taylor Jenkins and the rest of the Memphis Grizzlies put the blame on Jordan Poole. The Dubs sharpshooter was seen grabbing and yanking Morant's knee midway through the fourth quarter, which is believed to trigger the injury.
However, there have been reports that Morant actually injured his knee in the third quarter of the match after he jumped to contest a 3-pointer from Klay Thompson and bumped his knee onto the All-Star instead.
This appeared to be the play where Ja Morant actually injured his knee, bumping Klay Thompson on the shot contest.pic.twitter.com/qp8en3k08I
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) May 8, 2022
Now ahead of Game 5 of the series, Jenkins was asked why they claimed that Poole caused the injury. Apparently, it was what the medical team and Morant himself told them.
“That is what our medical team and Ja said… I was stating what was in-house,” Jenkins said, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
Ja Morant missed Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals series because of the injury, and there are doubts he'll be able to return in the postseason as he recovers. The Grizzlies are also down 3-1 to the Warriors, and a loss on Wednesday would spell the end for them in what has been a rather phenomenal season.
For what it's worth, Jordan Poole has since denied injuring Morant on purpose and highlighted he was doing a basketball play. He was trying to get the possession during a loose-ball situation, but he ended up hitting Morant on the knee.
Regardless of who's to blame, though, the Grizzlies can only hope for the best when it comes to Morant's injury and wish they can still extend the series with the Warriors.
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