Jaren Jackson Jr.’s injury is a serious blow to the Grizzlies’ playoff chances

On Tuesday the Memphis Grizzlies were dealt a major blow to their playoff chances with news of an injury to Jaren Jackson Jr.

The Memphis Grizzlies are in dire straits and things don’t appear to be getting any easier for the surprising squad. They entered the NBA’s Orlando bubble with plenty of reason for optimism, but nothing has gone right since. The Grizzlies are 0-3 in the bubble and on Tuesday received the news that Jaren Jackson Jr. would be out for the rest of the season.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Jackson suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee.

As things stand now, the 32-36 Grizzlies are in eighth place in the Western Conference and have a 2.0 game lead on both the San Antonio Spurs and the Portland Trail Blazers, sitting tied in the ninth spot. Behind them are the New Orleans Pelicans, just a half-game back.

The Grizzlies have the toughest remaining schedule in the NBA, with a combined opponent winning percentage of 68.8 percent. Their five opponents will be the Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors, the Boston Celtics, the Utah Jazz and the Oklahoma City Thunder. It’s safe to say the Grizzlies will be favored in exactly zero of these games, and it wouldn’t be impossible for them to end up winless in their Orlando restart bubble experience.

Don’t count a team with Ja Morant out, but their already difficult road just got that much harder. In Jackson’s second NBA season he averaged 17.4 points per game on shooting splits of .469/.394/.747, and that’s production that will be hard to replace for a Grizzlies’ squad that has had difficulty scoring lately.

The Memphis Grizzlies will play next on Wednesday at 2:30 PM EST against the Utah Jazz in a game that might be their best shot at getting a critical win as they desperately try to hold onto the Western Conference’s eighth seed.