Brandan Wright has made seven appearances for the Memphis Grizzlies, and he won’t be making his eighth anytime soon.
The 28-year-old forward-center, whom the Grizzlies signed over the offseason, has been on the sidelines tending to a knee injury. Rest and rehabilitation was the prescribed recovery method for a while, but the diagnosis has since changed, according to Yahoo Sports’ Marc J. Spears:
Grizzlies forward-center Brandan Wright tells Yahoo he expects to be out 6-8 weeks after having having arthroscopic knee surgery tomorrow.
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) December 16, 2015
The Commercial Appeal‘s Ronald Tillery provided a statement from Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace:
GM Chris Wallace on Wright: "There is a need to do the procedure at this time. We tried the rest and rehab route."
— Ronald Tillery (@CAGrizBeat) December 16, 2015
He also added another juicy tidbit to the story:
Wright told me last month that MRI "showed something." Behind the scenes team was saying it was just tendinitis and Wright was being 'soft'
— Ronald Tillery (@CAGrizBeat) December 16, 2015
Good player management, Grizzlies peeps.
Wright has missed pretty much the entire season, so his absence won’t hamper Memphis’ outlook a ton. The Grizzlies also rank in the bottom 10 of both offensive and defensive efficiency, and Wright isn’t the guy you turn to for fortunes-shifting reinvention.
Head coach Dave Joerger recently moved Zach Randolph to the bench in favor of a more versatile rotation anyway. Wright is explosive and can protect the rim, but he doesn’t space the floor and wouldn’t be a candidate to start in Randolph’s stead.
What the Grizzlies should probably do here is take to the trade market in hopes of either dumping Wright’s salary entirely or picking up a marginal role player they can use now. Wright is owed less than $18 million over each of the next three seasons, including this one, so if the Grizzlies are still married to the Marc Gasol-Randolph dynamic long term but intent on leaving Z-Bo with the second unit, there’s bound to be a team out there interested in waiting out Wright’s recovery.
