Mike Conley will have season-ending surgery to “smooth a small bone protrusion in his left heel,” the team announced on Saturday afternoon. The team noted that the injury has been causing him pain and soreness. He is expected to make a full recovery for the 2018-19 season, but that’s bad news for this season, which hasn’t run according to script in Memphis.
Grizzlies’ Mike Conley will have season-ending surgery on his heel
Things haven’t gone right in Memphis this year.
Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images
Conley hasn’t played in a game since Nov. 13, where he shot 3-of-13 from the field, and was clearly aching over an achilles injury still. He was originally day-to-day as he went through therapy, and was supposed to return in two-to-three weeks. That never happened. He did return to play 3-on-3 in scrimmage as recently as two weeks ago. But obviously he never fully returned to form.
What does this mean for the Grizzlies?
It might be time to hit the reset button and embrace the tank.
Memphis fired coach David Fizdale just two weeks after Conley’s injury in Nov. and that set the tone for the season. Fizdale had benched Marc Gasol in the fourth quarter of a game that could have maybe ended a seven-game losing streak, and things weren’t right.
They haven’t recovered since.
Aside from Conley, Memphis’ other max money investment, Chandler Parsons, hasn’t played since Dec. 27. He hasn’t been able to fully recover from a knee injury since he inked his new contract two summers ago.
Without those two, the Grizzlies sit at 17-31, far out of reach of a playoff spot. This season feels to be hitting a sad conclusion without hope of Conley’s return.
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