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Herrington: A messy, newsy day for Ja Morant and the Grizzlies

By , Daily Memphian Updated: January 14, 2026 6:20 PM CT | Published: January 14, 2026 3:41 PM CT
Chris Herrington
Daily Memphian

Chris Herrington

Chris Herrington has covered the Memphis Grizzlies, in one way or another, since the franchise’s second season in Memphis, while also writing about music, movies, food and civic life. As far as he knows, he’s the only member of the Professional Basketball Writers Association who is also a member of a film critics group and has also voted in national music critic polls for Rolling Stone and the Village Voice (RIP). He and his wife have two kids and, for reasons that sometimes elude him, three dogs.

On the eve of Thursday’s game in Berlin, Wednesday was an intensely newsy day in the middle of an intensely newsy week for the Memphis Grizzlies with an uncomfortable Ja Morant press availability and two eyebrow-raising injury reports. 

Let’s sift through some of the latest.

Morant out for Berlin game

If the Ja Morant era of Grizzlies basketball is on the verge of ending, it’s going out in familiar fashion: with a “will he or won’t he” mystery of whether Morant will play a basketball game. We’re not new to this.

With the Grizzlies set to face the Orlando Magic in Berlin midday Thursday (Memphis time), the Morant question began Wednesday with “hopefully” (Morant’s own word) and ended with “no” as the Grizzlies confirmed Morant will miss the game, an absence that continues to be labeled the result of a “calf contusion.”

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Topics

Ja Morant Memphis Grizzlies NBA Subscriber Only Jaren Jackson Jr.

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