Marcus Smart is averaging a career-best 14.5 ppg this season for Memphis.
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The Memphis Grizzlies announced Thursday that guard Marcus Smart will miss the next six weeks with a right ring finger injury. Per the team, Smart’s injury is a rupture of the proximal interphalangeal joint central slip and he will be re-evaluated in six weeks.
Smart’s injury occurred in a 120-109 win against the Dallas Mavericks on Jan. 9.
What happened: Smart left that game with 7:38 left in the third quarter with a dislocated finger. After making a 3-pointer, Smart noticed that his finger was gruesomely out of place while extending his hand to celebrate.
That game was Memphis’ first since learning it would be without leading scorer and All-Star Ja Morant for the rest of the season (shoulder surgery).
Smart’s impact: Before his injury, Smart scored 23 points on 9-for-16 shooting as the Grizzlies beat the Mavs, who had won three straight and four of their last five.
The Grizzlies traded for Smart in the offseason in hopes that he and Morant could pair up to give Memphis’ backcourt both a top-flight scorer (Morant) and an elite defender (Smart). However, Morant missed the first 25 games of the season due to a league-mandated suspension and he and Smart played just six games together before Morant was shut down for the season.
Stats-wise, Smart is averaging a career-best 14.5 points per game while also adding 2.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and a career-best 2.1 steals per game. His absence thins a Memphis backcourt that was already smarting over Morant’s departure and has been without veteran Derrick Rose (hamstring) for the last three games.
The Grizzlies (14-23) have the third-worst record in the Western Conference and are eight games behind the Houston Rockets for the No. 10 spot in the West. Given the six-week timeframe, Smart’s potential return could coincide with the Grizzlies’ return from the NBA All-Star break in late February.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
