Ja Morant Says He Played with 'Significant' Leg Injury: 'I Was in a Lot of Pain'
Ja Morant had a brilliant debut season for the Memphis Grizzlies, but the 2019-20 NBA Rookie of the Year has revealed he ended the year in rough physical shape.
In a profile by Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, Morant confirmed he played with a "significant upper leg injury" during the season restart in the bubble near Orlando, Florida.
"I will be honest now. I was in a lot of pain," he said. "But, I was trying to do whatever I could to help my team win. I wanted to make it to the playoffs, therefore I had to put my body on the line and fought with my teammates."
In addition to his leg injury, Morant announced after Memphis' season ended with a 126-122 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in the play-in game that he played the last four games with a broken thumb.
"For the past four games, since the Raptors game, I was out there playing with a fractured thumb," he told reporters.
There were indications that Morant wasn't completely right during the season restart. The 21-year-old did average 19.0 points, 9.9 assists and 6.4 rebounds in those eight games, but he only shot 39.4 percent from the field and 22.5 percent from three-point range.
In his first 59 games prior to the season being suspended on March 11, Morant connected on 49.1 percent of his field-goal attempts and 36.7 percent of his three-pointers.
Despite the late-season injuries, Morant emerged as a superstar in his rookie campaign. He led all first-year players with 7.3 assists per game and ranked second in scoring with 17.8 points per contest.
