Ja Morant Officially Returning for Grizzlies vs. Rockets After 8-Game Suspension

Memphis Grizzlies star point guard Ja Morant is officially set to return from his eight-game suspension on Wednesday night against the Houston Rockets.

Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins told reporters that Morant will come off the bench in his first game back, and "that might be the case for a couple of games."

Jenkins went on to say that Morant will be on a minutes restriction, likely in the low 20s.

"This was something he brought to the table as well as had been on my mind," Jenkins said. "So we collectively thought this was the best strategy, at least for the first one or two games. And then we'll kind of reevaluate after that."

Morant actually sat out a total of nine games, as his last appearance was in a loss to the Denver Nuggets on March 3. His eight-game suspension levied by the NBA came in the wake of him live streaming a video of himself with a firearm in his hand at a Denver-area nightclub in the early morning hours of March 4.

During his time away from the Grizzlies, Morant spent 11 days at a Florida counseling facility. While he appeared to be intoxicated in the video that got him suspended, he made it clear that alcohol abuse is not a problem he needs to address.

"I don't have an alcohol problem, never had an alcohol problem," Morant told reporters Tuesday after participating in Grizzlies practice for the first time since rejoining the team. "I went [to Florida] for counseling to learn how to manage stress, cope with stress in a positive way instead of ways I've tried to deal with it before that caused me to make mistakes."

Memphis (44-27) went 6-3 in Morant's absence and still sits in the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference. The team will obviously benefit from getting back the two-time All-Star, as he leads the Grizzlies with 27.1 points, 8.2 assists and 1.1 steals per game.