Ja Morant left Saturday night’s Game 3 between his Memphis Grizzlies and the Golden State Warriors due to a knee injury, and a play by Jordan Poole may have led to the injury.
Poole was seen reaching and pulling back against Morant’s knee as two Warriors players trapped the Grizzlies guard near halfcourt.
Looks like this is where Ja might have hurt himself before the free throws – right leg: pic.twitter.com/2dASccHNlq
— Coach Gibson Pyper (@HalfCourtHoops) May 8, 2022
Morant stayed in the game briefly but then left and did not return.
Here is the video angle that makes the play look much worse:
This looks like the play Ja Morant got hurt. pic.twitter.com/J24ssu5i9P
— Drew Hill (@DrewHill_DM) May 8, 2022
Morant left without talking to reporters. He had a slight limp.
Ja Morant just walked to the bus on his own power but with a limp. Didn’t take questions. pic.twitter.com/VuawDv7lJF
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) May 8, 2022
Morant had 34 points in 36 minutes during his team’s 142-112 loss to fall behind 2-1 in the series.
Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins was not happy over the play.
Taylor Jenkins on Ja Morant’s injury: “He is being evaluated right now. He was going for a loose ball and Jordan Poole grabbed his knee and yanked it. I’m curious to see what happens with that.”
He said he’ll talk with Zach Kleiman about having the league look at the play.
— Drew Hill (@DrewHill_DM) May 8, 2022
One angle made Poole’s play look really bad. But looking at the other angle makes it seem evident that Poole was just trying to reach for the ball to pry it loose.
