Even in an 82-game season, team destinies can turn with the speed of Ja Morant on a hellbent drive to the rim.

Or, in deference to recent results, with the fury of multiple defenders contesting Ja Morant on a hellbent drive to the rim.

Grizzlies upset Lakers in playoffs? Stranger things have happened

The Grizzlies’ micro-destiny – meaning this season, not their still-bright future – is making that ugly turn now.

Or maybe already has.

This young team started arriving ahead of schedule – arriving is ongoing, not just a moment – and the Memphis fandom got greedy.

Very, very greedy.

We started counting wins before the fact. We looked at the four-game cushion the team had in the No. 8 spot at the All-Star break and turned it into some sort of Manifest Grizzlies Destiny.

But the only Manifest NBA Destiny is that the season gets harder as it gets longer.

And if you’ve mostly avoided significant injuries earlier, your number is bound to come up later.

Grizzlies lose another game, and another player, in Los Angeles

Reality hurts

So, Jaren Jackson Jr. is out with a knee sprain and his return is predictably vague.

Brandon Clarke leaves Monday’s game at the Staples Center against the Los Angeles Clippers with a quad injury, and is out Wednesday night at Houston and for at least two weeks, according to a team statement. 

This never wasn’t the Memphis front office’s season to dictate, but if that became a distant thought in the midst of an unexpected playoff race, it is now again the front-and-center reality.

The 28-26 record the Grizzlies fashioned before the All-Star break is now 28-29, and they are on a three-game losing streak going into Houston.

Without Jaren Jackson Jr. and Clarke, it is almost certain to become a four-game skid.

Feeling a little panic, what with the league’s toughest schedule in front of the Grizzlies?

If you’re a die-hard fan, it’s understandable. But take a breath.

This really should be about the long game. And yes, I hate typing that sentence. Makes me almost feel like a shill for the front office suits.

But like it or not, the lawyers are right. And no, I didn’t really like typing that sentence either.

Grizz Week: A proposal for life without Jaren Jackson Jr.

An ounce of prevention …

Executives Zach Kleiman and Jason Wexler – and by extension, owner Robert Pera – are 100% right to guard this young team’s future.

Even at the expense of the present. Even at the expense of a possible, though now unlikely, playoff berth.

Every move made to this point, including the incredible haul from the Mike Conley deal and the action at this month’s trade deadline, was about tomorrow and not today.

So, a few more losses and the Grizzlies essentially, necessarily, play prevent defense the rest of the way.

With New Orleans and Zion Williamson heading up the charge from behind the Grizzlies, and other teams also in the mix, the front office might well shut down any young player with an injury.

That’s disappointing, but if you get to the middle of March and the Grizzlies have played themselves back into the lottery, what’s the point of putting Jackson’s knee at risk?

Why push Clarke, if he’s compromised?

Why rush Justise Winslow (back), the prime return in their deadline dealings?

For that matter, why keep pouring heavy minutes on top of Ja Morant, who is a 6-foot-3, 174-pound rookie on whom this whole enterprise is built?

Hello, Load Management.

Maybe I’m being premature with these thoughts. I doubt it.

In little more than a blink, this Grizzlies’ season has changed.

It doesn’t make the season a failure and it doesn’t mean the front office should suddenly alter its course to keep chasing a playoff spot that likely will slip beyond reach before the NCAA Tournament tips off.

It just means Grizzlies fans enjoyed living it up for a while, got a sneak peek at the coming attractions, but now must return to regularly scheduled NBA programming.